Key? what key???

[stormx]

When listening to a piece (and not having the score, of course), i have NO IDEA about the key.
Is any of you on the same boat? 

On the other hand, do you consider it a big deficit regarding piano playing (i am a beginner, by the way). If so, how do you improve on this subject?

[Kassaa]

Only someone with a perfect pitch can hear it, or you have to hear the character of the key. Almost no one can hear it, even concert pianists. You can improve it like playing a piece in two different keys and notice the differences, but it never will be perfect.

[nomis]

I usually have a fair idea of what key a piece is in. The pitches C and F are firmly ingrained in my brain, so I can often work out whether a piece is in either of these two keys. Occasionally, I get either of these keys mixed up with the key of Bb, as to my ears, these three keys sound quite similar and have a similar sort of tonal quality to them. G is one of my favourite keys, and I can usually hear that a piece is in that key. I usually sing the first line of "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" to confirm it. D is similar to G, A is similar to E, but all other keys for me have distinct characteristics. B is a very interesting key, because although it has one more sharp than E, it sounds nothing like it.

By the way, all this is personal opinion. And the keys I'm referring to are all major, since their relative minors have a similar tone, apart from the dominant chord.

As for improving your piano playing, I'm not too sure about that, as I don't think I'm a better pianist for it. Maybe as a composer or a pop pianist. Then again, being able to identify keys would probably aid the inner hear and help to improve aural memory.

[robert]

I usually can hear the main key if I hear the piece from the start but as the key often changes several times during the piece, it an be very problematic to understand the current key in a passage without looking at the score. But this also differs a lot depending on which music and composer you listen to. Pop/Rock music is often very simple with straight majors/minors and some 7:th key so just listening to the bass will in most cases be a safe bet. Baroque/Classical/Romantic eras are easier than modern classical music. Especially when experimenting with whole tone scales and/or serial structures where I can be totally lost. Mozart's music is easier than Chopin's music, Chopin's music easier than Debussy etc.
If you cannot figure out how to differ certain tones (frequencies) from each other in the same manner as your eyes differ red from blue, try to understand the lowest key your voice can sing and sing quietly the main key in your "head" (=quiet) and compare. This is a trick to at least get close.

[Nightscape]

If you know the piece beforehand, you of course would know the key.  But, most pieces modulate to other keys during the course of a piece.

[Derek]

Don't worry about it. I doubt most professional musicians could tell by ear what key a piece is in. Do learn to know what key a piece is in from sheet music, though, that of course is very useful for learning new music.

[ted]

Whatever the nature of the faculties required for this I have certainly missed the bus. Not only do I fail to recognise a key but I also have no perception of a key as a "home key" during a piece. If I do happen to use keys then no sooner am I in one than I am out of it again. They just occur to me as completely arbitrary sound patterns, neither better nor worse than any other keyboard structures. I can imitate conventional music, I'm not completely dense, but it is at the intellectual level, not because I hear anything particularly "right" about it.

But to return to the original poster, no, I certainly wouldn't view the inability to do this as obstructive to your musical enjoyment.

[Bulgarian]

Seems like musicians and composers apparently have very different opinions on the subject of key recognition. As you probably know, for some of them (e.g. Scriabin) the keys were associated with different colour. Also in the Baroque there were different theories regarding links between keys and particular moods.
I find myself in a very strange position because I can’t say if I have an absolute pitch or not. On the piano I usually hear the key but not in any other instrument. Is there anybody in the same situation?
Bulgarian

[kwtam338]

My 12-year-old son is now at ABRSM Diploma level. When he took his grade 6 exam, he also took a 3-month aural + theory course in which he was taught how to identify the key of a piece (by just listening to it without the score, of course). So I assume there are ways to do it (I cannot say for sure because I am only a beginner myself and I have major problems even identifying notes!!!).

He can identify the key of a piece of music (piano, violin, or pop music) by just listening to a few bars. I carried out some experiments with him just now:

1) I played the scales of all the major and harmonic minor keys in random, he could identify all of them, without one single mistake.

2) I played a few random pieces and again he identified all the keys after only a few measures.

3) I played single notes, double notes, triple notes and quad notes (some were chords, some were not). He could identify all of them immediately.

So, I guess:

1) there are ways to do it

2) there are people (not necessarily few) who can do it quite well

3) perhaps it is related to absolute pitch as I believe my son has it

[nomis]

Seems like musicians and composers apparently have very different opinions on the subject of key recognition. As you probably know, for some of them (e.g. Scriabin) the keys were associated with different colour. Also in the Baroque there were different theories regarding links between keys and particular moods.

I hear different keys as different sounds e.g. G major is "brighter" than C major, rather than associate them with colours or moods - that often comes with the piece.

[hgiles]

I find myself in a very strange position because I can’t say if I have an absolute pitch or not. On the piano I usually hear the key but not in any other instrument. Is there anybody in the same situation?
Bulgarian

I am opposite to you.  I can transcribe anything to saxophone (my first instrument), but cannot do it at all on piano.

On the subject of keys: In the old days they didn't have even-tempered tuning, now they do. That is, they tune your piano so the DO-RE-MI, sounds the same regardless of what key you are in.  Think of even-tempered tuning as intonation -- the instrument being in tune with itself and in tune to A440.

So, if the same song in F# major and G major sound so different to you then:

1) you have perfect pitch
2) your piano isn't tuned properly

Theoretically, there are no other possibilities.

[whynot]

The post about being able to identify pitch on one instrument but not others is very interesting.  I was the same way for a long time.  Whatever timbres I was used to hearing every day, those were the ones I could identify notes or chords in.  Now I can tell what's going on no matter what type of sound, but I've been paying attention to it for a long time, so I guess I just got comfortable with a range of timbres.  For me, pitch memory isn't exactly (or solely?) a memory for the fundamental pitch, it's a memory of a complete sound with overtones and degree of breathiness and vowel (or implied vowel on an instrument)... whatever I can perceive about the sound stays together in my memory.  So the more experience I have hearing certain sounds, the more they organize themselves in my head.  I don't know whether I've expressed that very well, but anyway...   

[anda]

you don't need absolute pitch - a well trained ear is enough. i don't have perfect pitch, but i hear the name of the notes, and therefore it's easy for me to tell the key (except for enharmonicals, of course )