why do i always pick music in the same key?

[cwjalex]

i feel like every piece of music i decide to play is either in the key of F, Bb or Eb. i swear the last 15-20 pieces of music i have chosen to play are in one of those 3 keys.  last week when my piano teacher asked me what piece of music i want to play next i said i don't care as long as it's not in one of those three keys.  does this happen to anyone else?

[mjames]

I've played a lot of pieces in c sharp minor and f minor. Ever since I realized that i went out of my way not to play pieces in those keys.

[outin]

I do that too...it's simply less work to learn pieces in familiar keys. And I almost always prefer music in minor keys. My favorite keys at the moment seem to be E minor, C minor and D minor.

[cwjalex]

i don't seek out music in those keys though, it's just so happens that every piece i like enough to find the sheets for have either a Bb, Ab, and/or Eb in them.  i dont know much theory so i don't know the name of the major/minor keys but i meant i choose music that has either Bb, Ab, and/or Eb.

[outin]

i don't seek out music in those keys though, it's just so happens that every piece i like enough to find the sheets for have either a Bb, Ab, and/or Eb in them.  i dont know much theory so i don't know the name of the major/minor keys but i meant i choose music that has either Bb, Ab, and/or Eb.

Well, also composers often did favor certain keys, so maybe if you choose pieces from your favorite composers you often end up with the same ones...

There are always two keys with similar key signatures, one major and one minor. You cannot have EITHER Bb, Ab or Eb, you would have either Bb (F major or D minor) or Bb+Eb (Bb major or G minor) or Bb+Eb+Ab (Eb major or C minor). Those are probably quite common among intermediate pieces with flats.

You don't seem to like music with sharps? Maybe you just favor pieces that sound familiar and can already recognize those common flat keys?

[cwjalex]

a few things...

- i don't have favorite composers, i just choose pieces of music that i like the sound

-i know the major/relative minor thing and i know that it has to be Bb, Bb+Eb, or Bb+Eb+Ab but i didn't know how to concisely write it without making it cumbersome

-it's not that i don't like music with sharps it just seems the pieces that i hear that i like the most tend to have those flats.  i don't have a good enough ear to be able to listen to a piece and know instantly which key signature it is.  for example, the last 5 pieces i printed out i just heard them and liked them enough to print out the sheets and learn them:

bach BWV 847 Prelude in c minor (Bb, Ab, Eb)
chopin revolutionary etude in c minor (Bb, Ab, Eb)
jelly roll morton the crave (Bb)
bach concerto in g minor (Bb, Eb)
beethoven tempest (Bb) + (Bb, Eb)

[outin]

a few things...

- i don't have favorite composers, i just choose pieces of music that i like the sound

How do you listen to new music then? It's not random is it, but you listen to composers that you know of, or am I wrong?

[cwjalex]

How do you listen to new music then? It's not random is it, but you listen to composers that you know of, or am I wrong?

it's random.  sometimes i just randomly click on videos on youtube.  maybe i heard a song in a movie or a videogame that i like.  in the list that i just gave i heard the crave in the movie "legend of 1900".  i heard the chopin etude in a remix in the video game IIDX.  the bach prelude i stumbled on while i was clicking on glenn gould videos.  maybe i'm weird but i never type a composer and then listen to all their works...i like a lot of music that's not in the classical genre as well.

[outin]

it's random.  sometimes i just randomly click on videos on youtube.  maybe i heard a song in a movie or a videogame that i like.  in the list that i just gave i heard the crave in the movie "legend of 1900".  i heard the chopin etude in a remix in the video game IIDX.  the bach prelude i stumbled on while i was clicking on glenn gould videos.  maybe i'm weird but i never type a composer and then listen to all their works...i like a lot of music that's not in the classical genre as well.

OK...I am quite the opposite, I like to know as much as possible about interesting composers

[xophero]

It is odd, but I do like/play pieces with 4,5 or 6 flats: Chopin, Schubert 142/2  and now 94/2 (again) after hearing the superb version by Jablonski on this web site, Debussy La Fille..., Dvorak Humoresque, Ilyinski Berceuse etc.  I just love moving over those black keys.  Is it because I much prefer (playing) romantic and impressionist composers to baroque and classical?  I don't know because I don't play those others, so don't know if certain keys were preferred! Do certain keys appeal to certain ears? Why is it that keys with more flats and sharps are considered more difficult? I don't really distinguish between keys in terms of difficulty because I am a memoriser, not a sight reader.  Maybe this distinction (for amateurs, not performance professionals who do both with relative ease) can explain why certain keys and pieces are preferred. It may not be relevant, but it might also explain why certain editions are preferred to others.  I have read some reviews which prefer (dull) European editions to those (USA) by Alfred and Schirmer, which are bright and clear (also with excellent up-to-date scholarship, and often CDs!).  The former seem to cram more on the page, which is possibly preferable to sight-readers.  We memorisers are in a minority it would seem, but I think we play better, love colourful editions, and keys with lots of flats (or sharps)!