The sounds of keys and scales

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Keys and scales play a very important role in organising the notes in most music, in many different ways. But one of the most important things about keys and scales is that they each have a characteristic sound, a bit like the way a palette of colours has a defining impact on a picture.

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The three pieces of music above differ in many ways but one of the main things that makes each sound so different is their keys and scales. The Haydn piece is very firmly in D minor. The Nu Troop 'Goree Island' plays around a harmonic minor scale. The Debussy piece, by contrast, makes a feature of experimenting with lots of different scales one after another.

You can experiment with different scales and keys using the Note Canvas tool on this page. Click play on the tool to hear a familiar tune and then scroll down for more...

Look for the Current scale. It's set to 'C major'. You can change this to pretty much any scale you like, to hear what that scale sounds like. For the moment, leave it as 'C' but try changing the scale type (minor etc.).

You'll notice when you change the scale that the pattern of light and dark blue lines changes. The light blue lines always show the notes in the current selected scale.

The notes won't move straight away. To make them move into the new scale, click Change tool bank, select the Move tool and then click on any of the notes. You'll hear the difference it makes.

You can also try moving the notes up and down the same scale, using Move up and Move down.

If you want to get the music back to its original state, click the Revert tool.