Death Match: Musical Key VS Tonal Center
There can be only one! (…Kind of.)
Round 1: The Radio
We all listen to music on the radio. Especially when driving. If you find yourself stuck in the world of playlists and streaming services, then I implore you to give your radio a shot. As you scan through the stations you may come across some classical music. At the beginning of each song, you should expect to hear what will be played. The other day I was treated to “Sospiri, by Edward Elgar in D Minor”. This is a beautiful piece that is a great representation of key and tonal center.
The song starts with a Dm chord that is sustained for multiple bars. This is a fantastic attention grabber. Seriously. I heard the short intro and turned my head to the radio screen with an, “Oh-! Man!” The piece opens with a Dm chord sweeping in at the one minute mark of the above video. It holds its ground with a few notes from a harp and then stops as if to ask, “You like that? Now check this s*** out.” The violins come in with the note E played as Dm’s 9th degree giving the first movement an iridescent brightness.
Later the chord Am becomes the focal point and the notes D and E act as the 4th and 5th degrees of A. With the transitioning between D Minor and A Minor, which is the key scale? Where is the tonal center? The difference between D Minor and A Minor is that while both have the notes A, C, D, E, F, and G, the key of D Minor has a Bb and A Minor has the note B. Only one note changes, so does key or tonal center even matter?
Round 2: Major VS Minor
Yes and no. Key refers to the note and scale that a musical piece is centered around. The tonal center is the single note that other notes are related to and revolve around. Let’s look at the key of D Minor that is used in Sospiri shown below.
In D Minor the note D is the “key note” and is highlighted in red. D Minor shares the same notes as F Major. Since F is the “key note” in F Major, I’ve also highlighted this in red. What gets confusing is that they both share the same “key signature”. A signature is that big treble clef at the left of each measure. By placing a flat symbol on the position of the B note we know that all B notes will be flat. I’ve opted to add a flat symbol to the note itself just to be clear no matter what your musical knowledge may be.
I’ve also included where F Major / D Minor is on the Circle of Fifths along with their roman numerals. If you’re wondering why we would call the same seven notes F Major or D Minor, then compare the roman numerals. F and D are the first degree of their own scales. After that some of the degrees become flat. Another big difference is whether a note represents a major or minor sound. In F Major the note C starts a Major fifth degree sound. In D Minor the note A starts a Minor fifth degree sound.
So, what is the true key? That’s where tonal center comes in. In D Minor all notes, chords, and melodies move toward D as a point of rest. Think of it as home-base. A technical name for this would be Tonic. No matter what we call it, D within D Minor is our focal point. The same idea is applied to F within F Major. The way tonal center helps us is in what the tonal center creates.
In D Minor the note D gives us a “minor context”. It is not major. It is not a mode. It is D in the most natural minor sense. All our motions and expressions revolve around D.
The beauty of this is that we can move the tonal center. Without getting into a lot of techniques using dominant structures, know that we can easily move between D Minor and F Major. If we choose to make F the tonal center, then the key note changes, but the key signature does not. This is where tonal center starts to be more important than the key because the “key” can refer to (1) a note and/or (2) a signature, while the tonal center is (1) a note and (2) the context revolving around that note.
Round 3: And the Winner Is... Context!
Below we have D Minor again. Below that is A Minor, which is the other “key” that is used in Sospiri. Notice how D Minor and A Minor have the same roman numerals from “i” to “bVII”.
Now imagine that we are writing our own song with D Minor and A Minor, but we want D to be the tonal center no matter what key we use. Comparing A Minor to D Dorian we can see that they share the same notes and key signature. Now tonal center takes precedence. With D as the Tonic in an A Minor key, we get the D Dorian mode. Don’t think of this as yet another technicality. Using a mode like D Dorian is a way to give a tonal center a new context.
Compare D Minor’s notes with D Dorian and you’ll find that the only difference is the note Bb or B. Now compare the roman numerals. The second, fourth, and sixth chords are different. While we may play melodies that only change between the notes Bb and B, multiple notes, and their positions relative to D change the context.
Context is everything in music. We can talk about aspects like keys, signatures, centers, scales, and modes all day and yet context will always be more important. Context is how each aspect is treated in order to convey elements like emotion, story, and purpose. Yes, key and key signature are very useful in that they allow us to know what a piece of music is centered around in terms of scale. Tonal center helps us to understand the flow of music and how other notes can pivot around a single central tone. But it is context that allows the human element to interpret and enjoy music itself.
Below is an example that was inspired by the opening of Sospiri. Take a listen and follow along with the chord structure accompanied by a melody. In this example we will start in D Minor, move to A Minor, and return to D Minor. Watch for Bb to be the note and chord that is paired with D Minor, while the note B moves us into D Dorian for a brief moment so we can transition into A Minor. The details for each measure to focus on are listed below as well. Overall, we will hear tonalities from four key signatures with two tonal centers and plenty of context.
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1 - We start with a swell in D Natural Minor. 4 - Bb is the bVI of D and lifts us up to a Major tonality that is specific to Dm. 6 through 8 – We stay within Dm and Bb. 9 – Em7b5 is used as a dominant structure that leads back to Dm, but 10 and 11 – Dm becomes Dm6 for a moment. Dm6 is an inversion of Bmb5, which is a dominant structure that leads to Am. 12 – After a brief rest with an off-set to the 4/4 time added as an attention grabber, Am is now the Tonic. 13 – Gmaj7 allows the note G to move down to F# and then… 14 – …down to F with F6, which is an inversion of Dm. 17 – We repeat measures 12 through 14, but G6 substitutes for GMaj7. G6 belongs to the keys of A Minor and E Minor, so there is some ambiguity. 18 – F6 belongs to A Minor and D Minor. The ambiguity continues and lets us slowly flow back to D Minor. 19 - Bbsus9 #11 is a blend of pre-dominance and dominance from D Minor, which is followed by Em7b5. Both chords lead us to Dm in measure 20. 22 – A7 is the secondary dominant of D and helps confirm what Bbsus9 #11 and Em7b5 were telling us: that Dm is the Tonic. 24 through 34 – We repeat the very beginning of our story to not only bring us to Dm as a Tonic, but to bring us back home.