Brainlag Plus Music

The key of an extract

Music theory, Harmony in a score, 12 minutes

Three clues that name the key of a printed extract, and how to tell a major key from its relative minor.

Three clues

Question 4 often starts by asking the key. Three clues agree on it:

The key signature: it gives two possible keys, a major key and its relative minor.
An accidental that keeps returning: a raised 7th of the minor key (G sharp in A minor, for example) means the minor key.
The last chord: an extract almost always ends on its tonic chord, and often starts on it too.

The rest of this lesson and its 5 practice questions are in Plus Music.

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