# I hate the key of B major



## kitekrazy (Feb 1, 2019)

Few instruments are easily playable in that key.

It sucks for wind instruments. Clar., tpt, ten sax, it;s C# (Db doesn't make it any easier
Sucks for keys - too many black keys
Sucks for brass, more so for trombone without an F attachment
It's OK for basses
Not great for non capo guitar


No real instrumentalist would ever write in such a key.

Vocalist who can't read music or play an instrument wouldn't care.

Still I hate the key of B


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## CT (Feb 1, 2019)

How do you feel about Eb? That's my favorite. I hope you like it too.


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## wilifordmusic (Feb 1, 2019)

If you close your eyes you will love B major. All those black keys will tell you where home is even if your ears don't.
And all those sharps make everything bright and peppy.

If you're not comfortable then you might write something new. That's a good thing right?


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## kitekrazy (Feb 1, 2019)

miket said:


> How do you feel about Eb? That's my favorite. I hope you like it too.



As a brass player - yes. Interesting that two of my favorite symphonies are Beethoven's 3rd and Bruckner's 4th.


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## Fredeke (Feb 4, 2019)

As a keyboard player, the more black keys in a scale, the happier I am ! I find black keys easier to play than white ones. My least favourite scale is C major.



miket said:


> How do you feel about Eb? That's my favorite. I hope you like it too.


Oh yeah. Bring it on baby !


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## Saxer (Feb 4, 2019)

Well... some people seem to manage playing in B maj...


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## Jeremy Gillam (Feb 4, 2019)

I like writing in D...it's satisfying! Also, A minor.


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## Daryl (Feb 4, 2019)

kitekrazy said:


> Few instruments are easily playable in that key.
> 
> It sucks for wind instruments. Clar., tpt, ten sax, it;s C# (Db doesn't make it any easier
> Sucks for keys - too many black keys
> ...


Well, it's fine for Clarinet, as long as you write for Clarinet in A.
It's fine for a keyboard, as long as you can play.
It's not really a problem for Strings, as long as you don't need too many open strings.

However, I agree about the others you mention. Still, it can be a great sounding key, no matter the difficulties it can present, IMO.


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## mikeh-375 (Feb 4, 2019)

B major is lovely for me on the piano. Playing a b major scale in one hand and e flat in the other is fun too. As composers though, we should love all keys even the weird hybrid ones  - I mean they are all potential destinations right?


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## Parsifal666 (Feb 4, 2019)

miket said:


> How do you feel about Eb? That's my favorite. I hope you like it too.



Eb is a wonderful and pretty damn malleable key imo (hard for me not to think of it as the "Heroic key" thanks to LvB).

C major and minor, D minor (with a heavy debt to Sir Nigel Tufnel), G major and minor...I use these keys a LOT, and like to think I found my voice through my extensive use of those keys. E major is a key I'm_* just*_ really getting into.

I almost _never_ use B major as a tonic, though it pops up in my modulations semi-regularly.


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## Anami (Feb 4, 2019)

As a pianist I love B Major. All the black keys and its very good for your hands.If you play the scale your thumbs are in the right place. C major for example is technically more 'difficult' to play.


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## Rob (Feb 4, 2019)

I like B major too... much prefer to have some black keys to play with, it's much more topographically inspiring. Hate to play with all whites


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## mikeh-375 (Feb 4, 2019)

Parsifal666 said:


> Eb is a wonderful and pretty damn malleable key imo (hard for me not to think of it as the "Heroic key" thanks to LvB).



Das Rheingold????


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## Parsifal666 (Feb 4, 2019)

mikeh-375 said:


> Das Rheingold????



Yes, the Prelude 

I didn't want to be _too_ obvious.


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## Mike Fox (Feb 5, 2019)

I have a profound phobia of the letter B, so I avoid it at all costs. 

Oh wait, I just typed it. No!!!!!!!!!


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## jneebz (Feb 5, 2019)

This is crazy, I know...but a Badd4 sounds better to me then the same chord in different keys.


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## Quasar (Feb 5, 2019)




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## Polkasound (Feb 6, 2019)

B is a key that almost all polka musicians avoid like the plague. Most amateur polka musicians play everything in C, G, and F, and even the pros rarely venture beyond three sharps or four flats. But sometimes a song simply calls for it.

When I was composing and recording an Oberkrainer-style song for my last album, I chose the key of C because it fit the ranges of all three singers. But the song felt like it was missing something. So I reacquainted myself with the music of Slavko Avsenik who frequently wrote in keys like Db, Gb, B and E. I dropped the key of my song from C to B. Suddenly the song got wings. That gave it the lift it was missing.


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## Kent (Feb 7, 2019)

kitekrazy said:


> Few instruments are easily playable in that key.
> 
> It sucks for wind instruments. Clar., tpt, ten sax, it;s C# (Db doesn't make it any easier
> Sucks for keys - too many black keys
> ...


As a recovering clarinetist, I have to say I loved playing in Db on a Bb. It fits under the fingers really nicely.


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## Morning Coffee (Feb 7, 2019)

Is this an example of Bracism?


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## Rodney Money (Feb 7, 2019)

kitekrazy said:


> Few instruments are easily playable in that key.
> 
> It sucks for wind instruments. Clar., tpt, ten sax, it;s C# (Db doesn't make it any easier
> Sucks for keys - too many black keys
> ...


"Only amateurs complain about the key." What my trumpet professor Joe Phelps told me my freshman year majoring in music. He was a very blunt but truly honest person in a loving way. God rest his soul. We learned all the keys inside and out. For Bb wind players Db with 5 flats is absolutely no problem and for those 123 valve combinations we know how to tune. I have recordings of 6 trumpets with trombones college kids playing that note all in tune together. Most serious trombone players by high school have F attachments. If you write for your instruments in an idiomatic way no key should be that tasking for the well-learned musician.


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## JT (Feb 7, 2019)

Copland wrote Fanfare for the Common Man in Bb for a reason. He could have written in in B, just a half step higher, but he didn't. Different instruments just slot into some keys better than another.


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## Rodney Money (Feb 7, 2019)

JT said:


> Copland wrote Fanfare for the Common Man in Bb for a reason. He could have written in in B, just a half step higher, but he didn't. Different instruments just slot into some keys better than another.


And yet we trumpet players play it on a C trumpet instead of Bb, because slurring those first 3 open notes is the stuff of nightmares and placing the 1 valve down on a C trumpet just seems to make everything feel a little better against the composer's wish of using a Bb.


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## JT (Feb 7, 2019)

Rodney Money said:


> And yet we trumpet players play it on a C trumpet instead of Bb, because slurring those first 3 open notes is the stuff of nightmares and placing the 1 valve down on a C trumpet just seems to make everything feel a little better against the composer's wish of using a Bb.


I've never had any problem slurring the first 3 notes. The choice of playing a Bb or a C horn is a personal one. I've never seen anyone play a Bb horn on one piece a music, then switch to a C for Fanfare. To each his own.


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## kitekrazy (Feb 7, 2019)

Rodney Money said:


> "Only amateurs complain about the key." What my trumpet professor Joe Phelps told me my freshman year majoring in music. He was a very blunt but truly honest person in a loving way. God rest his soul. We learned all the keys inside and out. For Bb wind players Db with 5 flats is absolutely no problem and for those 123 valve combinations we know how to tune. I have recordings of 6 trumpets with trombones college kids playing that note all in tune together. Most serious trombone players by high school have F attachments. If you write for your instruments in an idiomatic way no key should be that tasking for the well-learned musician.



Meh....there's always the musical tough guy. Not sure there's a real point to the last sentence.


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## Rodney Money (Feb 7, 2019)

kitekrazy said:


> Meh....there's always the musical tough guy. Not sure there's a real point to the last sentence.


The last sentence is the most important point. Write for the actual instrument and one day you too can write a cello solo in the key of Eb minor in 6 flats, have it published, performed all over the world, and featured on NPR's "All Things Considered," and not have one instrumentalist bitch about the key.


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## mikeh-375 (Feb 8, 2019)

Rodney Money said:


> If you write for your instruments in an idiomatic way no key should be that tasking for the well-learned musician.





kitekrazy said:


> Meh....there's always the musical tough guy. Not sure there's a real point to the last sentence.



Sorry Kitekrazy, but that is entirely the point as a lot of pros and trained composers will tell you. From a composing pov it is an essential paradigm in very well written orchestral music. It might not be palatable and might not even apply in midi scoring say (although I'd dispute that too), but it is certainly true in the real world. If you do not know a little at the very least, about instrumental technique and characteristics, how on earth do you think you can exploit it in your music for maximum emotional impact, most especially _as you are writing it? _
The best scenario is when knowledge of instrumental capabilities informs your compositional choices and vice versa.
Musical tough guy?...naah just people who know what they are doing.


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