The circle of fifths is a deceptively simple diagram that lays out every musical note, key, three-note chord and scale, and charts the relationship between them. A bit like a musical version of the ...

Don't be afraid. The circle of fifths looks confusing but it's only ever here to help. And a basic understanding of what it's trying to tell you could lead you down a whole new creative superhighway.

Much of our music, from classical to contemporary, is written in either a major or minor key (with exceptions, such as jazz, which uses neither). For most, a major key conjures up feelings of ...

Need a challenge? Take your favorite happy song and type the title into YouTube, followed by “in a minor key.” You’ve likely had this distinction drilled into your head by popular music and movies: ...

When researching musical topics recently, such as how musicians perceive distinctions in each key, it’s been striking how often these ideas are couched in suspicion. It seems that scholars and ...

We explore repertoire from major and minor keys, highlighting how young artists express the character and nuance that each represent. We hear a teen cellist perform a bright and sunny work with ties ...

This is our second story in our series on the characteristics of musical keys. We started with the “people’s key,” C major. From there it’s an easy skip to D, the root of today’s subject, the “saddest ...