I’m getting on in years now – nearing sixty (well, actually seventeen-and-forty), though I see the world through the eyes of a seventeen-year-old and kid myself that I still look forty (ahem) – and I’ve been playing guitar since I was ten. I never studied music formally, nor am I a professional.

But when you sit at home after a day’s work, rocking gently back and forth while playing, losing yourself in the music – whether you’re trying to interpret a song or playing pieces that speak to personal experiences, like the death of a family member or a breakup – well… WHOOPS! …two, three, or four hours have flown by before you know it.

As a music beginner, you start out playing in C major (or A minor), likely because so many children’s songs are in that key. Once you can sight-read and have played through countless songs, the other keys start to feel more familiar. Over the years, as you develop a sense of how each key affects you – how you personally perceive them – images begin to form in your mind when you lose yourself in a melody.

And that is what I want to do here today: share the images that these different keys evoke in me.

E: is majestic, regal, masculine, full of wisdom and dignity, yet possessing that sheer power only a king commands. Omnipotence: death is omnipotent. Ding-a-ling – the doorbell rings; a quick glance through the peephole reveals the Grim Reaper standing there. There’s no need to hesitate about opening the door. E is power!

F: represents work – whether done alone or with others. The miller in his mill, the stable hand in the castle courtyard; or when I walk through the door of a neighbor who is also a friend, and he is holding a small shelf against the wall with one hand – a pencil between his lips, a spirit level tucked under his shoulder – while trying to pull the power drill’s cord closer with his leg. That’s when I step in to help; it’s easier as a team. Yet F is also a distant goal one works toward, finding satisfaction once the task is complete.

F-sharp: represents the rallying cry, the revolution. Vive la France! – come one, come all, let’s tackle this together! It doesn’t have to be a bloody revolution; it can simply be the desire to do something with others: Look here, everyone gather ’round. Let’s do something together.

G: is masculine – Conan the Destroyer, Sir Lancelot with his sword Excalibur. There is no getting past G. G stands unyielding and never falls; distinctively masculine and – while perhaps not all-powerful like E – iron-willed and proud. Motorcyclists, adventurers, explorers, strong-willed.

G-sharp: is laid-back, lounging in a hammock on the beach, lucky enough to have a beauty serve you a drink. G-sharp doesn’t move much; it simply lies there and enjoys the moment. Reggae or chill-out songs. Sunsets and no overthinking – just pure enjoyment.

A: is the Queen. Wisdom, dignity, and femininity. Elegance paired with power. Though it possesses less raw pride and power than E – for here, the nature of the mother and the forgiver dominates, characterized by stature, greatness, and love. A shines; it is not domineering but compassionate, devoid of arrogance.

A-sharp: feminine – the tigress, the puma-woman; agile, swift, elegant, yet steadfast. The female counterpart to G – the knight. A-sharp is the savanna queen from the Disney film who protects her clan – even with her life, if need be. Strength, courage, and agility. Lioness. Fighting-Queen. Unyielding.

B: represents the mage, the wizard, sorcery, the inexplicable. Neither male nor female – a being stands before you, face obscured by a cloak; this unknown entity steps into your life and raises a magic wand: does it intend to protect you or transform you? Good or evil… that remains to be seen.

C: represents childhood, innocence worth protecting, the sweet little one. A child with a balloon stands in a meadow as a rabbit hops toward them. C minor is somewhat melancholic, yet not sad and never threatening. A small elf sits in the tree in that meadow, gazing at the scene with a dreamy air.

C-sharp: represents youth – unencumbered, free of responsibility, playful, and full of discovery. Think of driving a car while young, the vehicle packed with friends: heading to a party, the beach, or on vacation – it is a different scenario than when a family man drives, with his wife beside him and the children in the back, on the way to a family reunion. C-sharp is young, inquisitive, and virtually unstoppable.

D: feminine, elegant. While she may lack the brilliance and regal stature of A, D is graceful, lovely, and youthful. A pretty young woman, aware of her own dignity and beauty, who knows just how to turn a man’s head. The queen’s younger sister or cousin.

D-sharp: for me, represents vastness. Devoid of human presence. I experienced this feeling at the Grand Canyon: vastness… and nothing else. One feels small and insignificant, …amidst this splendor of nature, of the cosmos, of the grand scale of things, of the whole. In the middle of ‘Red Valley’ near Las Vegas – nothing but rocks, dust, and vast emptiness – there is some kind of observation hight. It was a gloomy day, heavy with clouds but no rain; the sun had ventured toward the horizon and was bravely shining through the breaks in the clouds. We stood there – my girlfriend and I – gazing out into the vast expanse. That’s the kind of scene where I’d have cowboys riding off into the distance at the end of a movie. In D-sharp!

And – NO! I don’t have absolute pitch, nor can I identify the key just by listening to a song. It only happens when I’m playing music myself, getting lost in the sound; for certain songs, once I’d finished writing them, I’d settle on the key that felt like the best fit. That’s often not easy on the guitar – the piano has a huge advantage there, thanks to the keyboard’s wide range.

Then something interesting happened: I came across a small table on Wikipedia listing the impressions of the old masters – Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart – detailing how these guys perceived musical keys and what they wrote or said about them. When I discovered that, I did some digging and found even more statements like that.

Character of keys – deutsch: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonartencharakter#Bekenntnisse

And what can I say? Even though not every comment by those old musicians aligns with my perceptions – or yours, for that matter, since everyone has their own perspective – if you look at the big picture, about half of their observations match my view (or perhaps yours) regarding the different keys. I think that’s because we were all children once, and we all likely started out playing in C major (or A minor), right? What do you think?

What I definitely lack, when considering the great masters, is the ability to distinguish between major and minor within the same key. It’s not that I don’t know the difference; rather, some masters distinguish between D major (e.g., forcing a victory) and D minor (total ruin). To me, however, everything sounds just as described earlier: major is simply “lively and spirited,” while minor is just “more subdued, melancholic, or sad.”

Maybe I’m addicted – have fun: