G major: Difference between revisions
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*''[[Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)]]'' - [[Green Day]] |
*''[[Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)]]'' - [[Green Day]] |
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*''[[Hey Ya!]]'' - [[Outkast]] |
*''[[Hey Ya!]]'' - [[Outkast]] |
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*''[[I'm Out]]'' - [[Naked Brothers Band]] |
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*''[[I Don't Wanna' Go to School]]'' - [[Naked Brothers Band]] |
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*''[[I Want to Hold Your Hand]]'' - [[The Beatles]] |
*''[[I Want to Hold Your Hand]]'' - [[The Beatles]] |
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*''[[Just Can't Get Enough]]'' - [[Depeche Mode]] |
*''[[Just Can't Get Enough]]'' - [[Depeche Mode]] |
Revision as of 04:48, 27 January 2008
Relative key | E minor |
---|---|
Parallel key | G minor |
Component pitches | |
G, A, B, C, D, E, F# |
- Also see: G minor, or G-sharp minor.
G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F♯. Its key signature has one sharp, F♯. (see below: Scales and keys).
Its relative minor is E minor, and its parallel minor is G minor.
In the treble clef, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom (a lower-octave F note).
In the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, "G major is often a key of 6/8 chain rhythms," according to Alfred Einstein, and in the Baroque era, G major was regarded as the "key of benediction."
Of Domenico Scarlatti's 555 keyboard sonatas, 69 are in G major, and 12 of Joseph Haydn's 104 Symphonies are in G major. Beethoven, on the other hand, hardly used G major as the main key of a work, his only major orchestral work in the key being his Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major.
For orchestral works in G major, the timpani are typically set to G and D a fifth apart, rather than a fourth apart as for most other keys.
G is one of the most frequently-employed keys across classical and popular music. This is in part because of its relative ease of playing on both keyboard and string instruments.
Well-known classical compositions in this key
- Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, 17th Piano Concerto and first of the Haydn Quartets - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- "Dalla Sua Pace" (from Don Giovanni) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 - Johann Sebastian Bach
- Goldberg Variations - Johann Sebastian Bach
- Trio no. 39 (25) with the Gypsy Rondo, first of the Emperor Quartets- Joseph Haydn
- Trepak - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- 2nd String Quartet, 16th Piano Sonata, 2nd Piano Trio and 10th Violin Sonata - Ludwig van Beethoven (in addition to the 4th concerto already mentioned.)
- Last string quartet and Sonata "Fantaisie" - Franz Schubert
- String Sextet No. 2 opus 36, Violin Sonata No. 1, opus 78 ("Regenlied"), and String Quintet No. 2 opus 111 - Johannes Brahms
- Piano Concerto in G major - Maurice Ravel
- Suite for Strings - Arnold Schoenberg
See also List of symphonies in G major.
Well-known contemporary music in this key
- American Pie - Don McLean
- Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
- Creep - Radiohead
- Don't Let's Start - They Might Be Giants
- Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd (solo in G minor)
- Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day
- Hey Ya! - Outkast
- I'm Out - Naked Brothers Band
- I Don't Wanna' Go to School - Naked Brothers Band
- I Want to Hold Your Hand - The Beatles
- Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode
- Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings
- Live Forever - Oasis (band)
- Lyin' Eyes - The Eagles
- It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - R.E.M.
- Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind
- Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson
- Sitting on the Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
- Turning Japanese - The Vapors
- Walk Away - Kelly Clarkson
- Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
- Yakety Yak - The Coasters
- You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
References
- Alfred Einstein, Mozart, His Character, His Work, Chapter 10, "Mozart's Choice Of Keys"