Off-key is musical content that is not at the expected
frequency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and vibratory phenomena, such as mechanical vibrations, audio ...
or
pitch period, either with respect to some absolute reference frequency, or in a ratiometric sense (i.e. through removal of exactly one degree of freedom, such as the frequency of a keynote), or pitch intervals not well-defined in the ratio of small whole numbers.
The term may also refer to a person or situation being out of step with what is considered normal or appropriate. A single note deliberately played or sung off-key can be called an "off-note". It is sometimes used the same way as a
blue note in jazz.
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Explanation of on-key
The opposite of off-key is on-key or in-key, which suggests that there is a well defined keynote, or reference pitch. This does not necessarily have to be an absolute pitch but rather one that is relative for at least the duration of a song. A
song
A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...
is usually in a certain key, which is usually the note that the song ends on, and is the base frequency around which it resolves to at the end.
The base-frequency is usually called the
harmonic
In physics, acoustics, and telecommunications, a harmonic is a sinusoidal wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'' of a periodic signal. The fundamental frequency is also called the ''1st har ...
or
key center. Being on-key presumes that there is a key center frequency around which some portion of notes have well defined intervals to.
Deliberate use off-key content
In jazz and blues music, certain notes called "
blue notes" are deliberately sung somewhat flat for expressive effect. Examples include the words "Thought He Was a Goner" in the song "
And the Cat Came Back" and the words "Yum Yum" in the children's song "
Five Green and Speckled Frogs".
See also
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Melody
A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...
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Tonality
Tonality is the arrangement of pitch (music), pitches and / or chord (music), chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived ''relations'', ''stabilities'', ''attractions'', and ''directionality''.
In this hierarchy, the single pitch or ...
*
Blue note
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Tonic (music)
In music, the tonic is the first scale degree () of the diatonic scale (the first note of a scale) and the tonal center or final resolution tone that is commonly used in the final cadence in tonal (musical key-based) classical music, popul ...
Notes
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Musical tuning