[Dixielandjazz] Rachmaninov prelude

[Jon Seiger]

bill is completely  right.   the relative minor of E major is C# minor.  the
relative minor is always a minor third below the major key

jon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Gunter" <jazzboard at hotmail.com>
To: <patcooke at cox.net>; <cellblk7 at comcast.net>; <mjl at ix.netcom.com>;
<dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2004 2:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Rachmaninov prelude


> Hi all,
>
> Interesting questions from Patrick Cooke . . .
>
> >C sharp minor!!
>
> >       The relative major to C# Minor is A# Major.  I count that out to
10
> >sharps, meaning half of the notes are double sharped, or did I do
something
> >wrong?
>
> I don't really know about the reasoning involved.  But it seems to me that
> the relative major of C# Minor would be E Major (since the relative minor
to
> E would be C#).
>
> That would put it in four sharps.
>
> And your question:
>
> >       Every time I ask the question "Why?" some one usually says "Sharps
> >are
> >brighter".
>
> I really don't know about the "brighter" part. Seems to me such a judgment
> must be at least partially subjective. But I do know that violins (the
heart
> of the symphony) are tuned to (from the bottom up) G D A E (the key of G
has
> 1 sharp, D has 2 sharps, A has 3 sharp and E has 4 sharps).  I believe it
is
> for this reason that orchestras with lots of strings love the sharp keys
for
> the same reason that jazz bands with lots of cornets and clarinets love
the
> flat keys.
>
> Reminds me of a gig I played once. The leader of the Cell Block 7 (Bob
> Romans) threw a surprise birthday party for his wife, Carol, who plays
flute
> in the Stockton Symphony) and he gathered a bunch of musician friends to
> sneak up on her and play the "Happy Birthday Song" -- The musicians
included
> a bunch of us from jazz bands and a bunch from the symphony.
>
> The funny thing was that the symphony players couldn't improvise in F (the
> traditional key in which this song is performed because that pitches it
> comfortably for singing) which has one flat. Instead, the symphony dudes
> wanted to play it in A (three sharps) because that's how fiddles are
tuned.
>
> Since the jazz players are more adept at improvising in different keys it
> was decided to do the song in A because the symphony players knew beans
> about improvising in a flat key.  As a result all the singers had to
strain
> to hit the high note in "happy BIRTHday dear carol . . ." because A is a
> full major third higher than F.  But the entire affair was amusing and
much
> fun for all of us.
>
> Respectfully submitted,
>
> Bill "washboardist" Gunter
> jazzboard at hotmail.com
>
>
>
>
> as a matter of fact, it's an A (rendered on the oboe) to which symphony
> orchestras generally tune up.  (A h
>
>
>
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