h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey Steve.

"Do brass players enjoy playing in the key of E, with four sharps?"
Well, mostly they don't.

If an instrument is in the key of Eb and so is the piece of music it's playing (So-and-so's piano concerto in Eb for instance), the instrument is effectively in the key of C - no sharps or flats at all. The same piece of music as written for an instrument tuned to the key of C, such as an oboe for instance, *would* be in Eb. For a Bb instrument however, it would be in... oh jeez, I can't even begin to work that one out

So, you've got an orchestra full of instruments, some of which are tuned to different keys, and for each of those, the same piece of music has a different number of sharps and flats - it's in a different key for each instrument.

Clear as mud?

OK, thanks, I sort of get it. Having never played in an orchestra, its a little fuzzy, but it reminds me of playing the piano, which is easiest in C. OK, a few sharps & flats for spice, but mostly white keys.

And of course my MIDI instruments can be modulated with the turn of a knob, so the fingering (key of C) is the same for any key. A guitar can be modulated to some degree using a capo (a clamp setting the string length shorter). Just don't change keys mid-song ...

But I gather a brass player faced with the key of E would be like a pianist faced with the same thing. Even worse, it sounds like.

Pianists do seem to be trained in "all" keys as a matter of course. My theory prof said he has a difficult time finding classical music all in the same key ... so the classical pianist HAS to change keys mid-song, meaning learning all the fingerings ... life to me is too short ...

Almost all jazz exercises give the details in a single key, then say "Now practice this in all 12 keys". I always ignore that advice ...

I learnt to play the trumpet when I was around 10, then I moved on to the French horn about three years later. In both instances I had to learn about music theory and keys, but it wasn't for another 30 years or so when I started learning piano that I really had to study keys. And I was always crap at them. I could never remember which keys had what sharp and flats. Still can't.