[Smt-talk] F SHARP MAJOR

[Keith Salley]

The American composer w/the transposing keyboard was Irving Berlin.


Keith Salley
Associate Professor of music
Shenandoah Conservatory
Shenandoah University
Winchester, VA

Sent from my iPhone

On May 19, 2014, at 8:11 AM, Donna Doyle <donnadoyle at att.net> wrote:

> Dear Steve,
> 
> Notice that most of your list's pieces are for keyboard. Take a look at your hand, place it outstretched on a keyboard and observe where your fingers rest. F#M/GbM are the most comfortable keys for pianists--long fingers on the black keys, short finger(s) on the white. 19th c pianist-composers experienced this. A story goes that when Schubert submitted his GbM Moment Musical for publication, the publisher took away the flats to sell more copies and ended up with left-over inventory. Also, who was the American songwriter who played everything in C#M on a transposing keyboard? Why not CM? Lastly, one need only observe a good church organist to know that just about anything can be managed on the keyboard by skillful hands (hence the WTC).  
> 
> Best regards,
> Donna Doyle
> 
> Adjunct Assistant Professor
> Aaron Copland School of Music
> Queens College
> Flushing, New York 11367
> 
> On May 18, 2014, at 10:38 PM, Stephen Jablonsky <jablonsky at optimum.net> wrote:
> 
>> I know that many of our members in academe are preparing for the end of the school year and have little time for a dalliance with a particular key and the rest of you have busy lives as well. I, on the other hand, being a lifteime composer, have a mild case of OCD and could not let go of this inquiry into the frequency of usage of F sharp major. A cursory search of the Internet, and some help from friends, has produced what may be the first definitive list of works in this very rare key. Obviously, the list does not include works that attempt to do things in every key. G flat major is another story for another day.
>> 
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