Quickly Determining the Key From a Key Signature

A couple of days ago a friend of mine asked me how you can determine the key of a music score by observing its "key signature". The key signature is the set of ♯ or ♭ symbols that are placed on the staff to indicate the notes that should be played one semitone higher (in the case of ♯) or lower (in the case of ♭) along the score (unless an accidental indicates otherwise). An example key signature (A major or F♯ minor) is shown below:

The key signature, despite its name, is a tool meant to reduce the number of accidentals in a score but it might not necessarily match the key of the score. Nevertheless, most of the time, it will.


The notational convention used comes from the circle of fifths:

Basically, the circle can be navigated clockwise or counter-clockwise, starting from the upper C, down to the G♭/F♯. In every "step" a symbol is added to the key signature: a ♯ if the circle is navigated clockwise or a ♭ if the circle is navigated counter-clockwise. The rule to add the symbol to the key signature is the following:

• A ♯ shall be added to the leading note for the major scale or, equivalently, to the supertonic for a minor scale.
• A ♭ shall be added to the subdominant for the major scale or, equivalently, to the submediant for a minor scale.

So far, so good, but theory would not help my friend so much, would it?

Fortunately, there's a quick mnemonic to find out the key from a key signature.

• In the case of a key signature made up of ♯ symbols: Since, as explained earlier, the new ♯ shall be placed on the leading note (in the case of a major scale), the mnemonic is: look at the last ♯ in the signature and raise it by one semitone. That's the corresponding major key.
• In the case of a key signature made up of ♭ symbols: Since the new ♭ shall be placed on the subdominant (in the case of a major scale), take the second last ♭: that's the corresponding major key. If the signature has got only one ♭, that's a F major (that's easy).

For example, if we look at the following signature:

The last ♯ symbol is a E♯. If we raise it one semitone we've got a F but, since the F is already marked as F♯ on the signature, the corresponding major key will be F♯.

If we look at this signature:

The second last ♭ is a C♭: the corresponding major key is, indeed, C♭.

Why I manually manage my iPhone's music

The problem

I own a pretty large music library which is hosted on a dedicated ZFS file system. Access to UNIX clients is provided via NFS and access to Windows clients is provided via CIFS. So far, so good. The problem is that the library is huge, very huge: not only the number of files is high, but some files themselves are huge. Whenever I buy a new CD, I rip it and encode it with a lossless codec in order to store the sufficient information in the case I need to burn another copy of the CD. On the Solaris Operating System, I'm using FLAC to encode such files. Alongside these lossless-encoded files, I use to encode another copy of the files in an easier to handle format, more suitable to use with portable devices. In this case, I use to re-encode FLAC files with an MP3 encoder.

Keeping organized such a library isn't difficult and the only problem I had so far is expanding storage according to my needs and backing it up: since I'm using ZFS, I'm an happier (and a wiser) man.

The problem with iTunes and such kind of programs is that they don't fit very well in the big library and networked storage scenario. Starting iTunes would take long to complete and, moreover, network would be the bottleneck. I never liked such a waste of resources and this is one of the reasons I never, ever, used a program to keep "organized" my music library.

But, what's the matter with the iPhone? Well, the iPhone is a glorified iPod and we all know that Apple is so kind to not allow us to read or write files on our phone but using iTunes.

iTunes synchronization

The iTunes way is very simple and idiot-proof: the iPhone is kept in sync with your iTunes-managed libraries: music, videos but also contacts, application and so forth. Kept I all of my music in just one laptop, that would (probably) be great but as I told you that's not (fortunately) the case.

The first times I synchronized my iPhone I used to:

• Adding files to my library.
• Synchronizing the iPhone.

Unfortunately, if my laptop cannot access the CIFS shares where the music is, iTunes just sees missing files and your iPhone will be empty after the next synchronization. Not so good.

The following times I thought I'd better copy files locally, first, and then synchronize. Good! Well, no. Because, unless you leave those files there (forever!), you'd hit the same behavior I described earlier. Replicating seldom is a good idea. Replicating such a library, definitely is not.

That's the kind of idiosyncrasy I hate in an end user program. Or it isn't an idiosyncrasy at all and it's me who's a strange user. Anyway, that's why I switched to manually manage my iPhone files. No library synchronization. I just copy files from the CIFS share directly into the iPhone. Just as if it was a plain old phone. No stale files on my laptop to keep iTunes happy.

Loreena McKennitt - The lady of Shalott

One of my favorite songs. From an Arthurian legend put into words by Lord Tennyson and a beautiful arrangement from Loreena McKennitt.

Click here to view it on YouTube.

A midwinter night's dream

“I really wanted to recapture some of the frankincense and myrrh in this music, and the process was a fresh reminder of the diversity of so many traditions when it comes to music of the winter season. The songs are rich with abundant references to the natural world and connections to our spiritual and religious bearings; it's clear that people have always used winter as a time of reflection.”

“The seasons have always held their mysteries and wonders, and we mere mortals have been fascinated by them and driven to understand our inter-relationship with the natural world,
as we try to discover the spiritual and religious significance of it all. Over the centuries, music has become a conduit for that reflection as it strives to capture the interweave of our existence. This recording is one modest rendering of that fascination, a kind of discovery chest of musical merry making, inspired by some traditions I have encountered along the way. May the spirit of love, joy and renewal be yours.”

With these words, Loreena McKennitt introduces us to her new album, A midwinter night's dream. This new seasonal collection (the second with A winter garden: five songs for the season, of which this album contains all 5 tracks) was recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studio in England and contains another 8 brand new songs. The track list is the following>

1. The holly and the Ivy
2. Un flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle
3. The seven rejoices of Mary
4. Noël nouvelet
5. Good king Wenceslas (from A winter garden)
6. Coventry carol (from A winter garden)
7. God rest ye merry, gentlemen (Abdelli version) (from A winter garden)
8. Snow (from A winter garden)
9. Breton carol
10. Seeds of love (from A winter garden)
11. Gloucestershire wassail
12. Emmanuel
13. In the bleak midwinter
    

In this album Loreena show us once more its eclepticism and its wide musical interests, with strong influences ranging from Classical, to Celtic and Middle East. McKennitt herself plays lever harp, piano and accordion and is accompanied by:

• Brian Hughes - oud, guitar
• Hugh Marsh - violin
• Caroline Lavelle - cello
• Donald Quan - viola, percussion
• Ben Grossman - hurdy gurdy, percussion
• Simon Edwards - bass
• Rick Lazar - percussion
• Stratis Psaradellis - greek lyra, greek lute

I want to close wondering about Loreena's introductory words: "The songs are rich with abundant references to the natural world and connections to our spiritual and religious bearings; it's clear that people have always used winter as a time of reflection." It's clear that McKennitt herself loves winter so much. You can smell it, you can see it, you can shiver, with her music. Even in traditional songs from cultures so different (such as Good rest ye merry, gentlemen), you still recognize the basic principles about living a feast together: a community gathering around, listening to the same music, dancing together at the very same notes.

It's also worth noting that, amongst the great number of works she produced, winter always had a privileged position: she released 10 albums of which 3 are winter-centric (To drive the cold winter away, A winter garden, A midwinter night's dream).

If you love Loreena, buy it or download it from the official website and enjoy. And if you want to give somebody an original gift, this album is a good option to enrich the atmosphere of the long cold nights that await us until Christmas.

Loreena McKennitt to perform at Concerto di Natale 2008 (Christmas Concert 2008)

As stated in the performances page in Loreena McKennitt's official website, Loreena is going to perform at the Concerto di Natale 2008 (Christmas Concert 2008) on December 7th at the Philharmonic Theatre in Verona, Italy.

After 13 editions held at the Aula Paolo VI, Vatican City, this year the Concerto di Natale comes back to Verona's Philharmonic Theater. Verona is an elegant and beautiful city of Veneto, bordering Lombardia and at a privileged position at the end of the Colli Berici hills chain, at few kilometers from Garda Lake, Italian largest lake. I strongly recommend a visit to this charming city, dining in a restaurant near the medieval center and strolling around, admiring the beauty of the soft hills and the river surrounding the town. And for all the Romeos accompanied by their girlfriend, if that night you feel the romance, you can pay a visit to Giulietta's house.

Besides Loreena, many other bigs are going to perform in a concert which is already a tradition in Italy. The concert will be broadcast on the Italian national television (RAI) on December 24th at 21.00 and will also be broadcast via satellite by RAI International. The concert program, as stated at the official site, is the following (starting at 19.00):

• Zach Ashton (USA)
• Angelique Kidjo (Benin)
• Sananda Maitreya (USA)
• Loreena McKennitt (Canada)
• Dionne Warwick (USA)
• Paolo Fresu (Italy)
• Irene Grandi (Italy)
• Enzo Jannacci (Italy)
• Andrea Mingardi (Italy)
• Lola Ponce (Argentina) e Giò di Tonno (Italy)
• Neri Per Caso (Italy)
• Piero Mazzocchetti (Italy)
• PFM - Premiata Forneria Marconi (Italy)
• Katia Ricciarelli (Italy)
• Alabama Gospel Choir (U.S.A)
• Coro di Voci Bianche "A.d'A.MUS" of Verona directed by Maestro Marco Tonini

I already bought my tickets and will fly there on December, 5th, to enjoy a couple of days in Veneto before attending this event. I don't know if the concert is already sold out but if I could assist, I wouldn't miss such an opportunity to see Loreena perform, together with a bunch of another great artists, in a concert whose raised funds will be donated to the Don Bosco Foundation, to improve the lifes of Haitian children living in poverty.

Enjoy!