To my frustration, an overly large percentage of popular piano sheet music is written in a key different than the original. Often, it is put into a key that is not necessarily easier to play in and the choice seems unwarranted. Is there some copyright discount the sheet music publisher receives for altering the original key of the song?
How are you determining what constitutes the original key?
The original key is what key the actual recording is in. I realize songs like Happy Birthday and Twinkle might be ambiguous, but I’m talking about Beatles songs, Beach Boys songs, etc.
Is it not possible that the composer wrote it in a key he was comfortable in and then it got transposed to a key that the band that recorded it was comfortable in for the recording?
If you’re talking about arrangements of that kind, two possible reasons come to mind. One is that it might be to bring the vocal part into a range which suits a greater number of people - Paul McCartney, for instance, certainly sings higher than many men with untrained voices are comfortable with. The other is that it might simplify the chords from the point of view of guitarists.
Since he said “popular” music, I presume he means the key the most well known recorded performance is in, determined by listening to it. In which case, the answer is that performers are free to transpose popular pieces into whatever key they wish, usually the one the vocalist feels comfortable singing it in.
ETA:
people are quick today.
People do transpose songs for more comfortable singing or playing, but I think it would be best if that was left to the performer. The tonal qualities of a song and the instruments used to accompany it are heavily dependent on key. For example, Elvis’ original recording of “That’s All Right Mama” starts out with that great “boom-diddle-BOOM-diddle-boom-diddle-BOOM-diddle” vamp on his acoustic guitar; if you change the song from the key of A to the key of E, as the Beatles did when they sang it in their early years, you can’t do that riff, because you don’t have that nice open-string bass fifth below the root, as you do in the key of A. The E note that Elvis plays to get that effect is the lowest note on the instrument.
I’ve never had that problem, though I haven’t bought sheet music in years. When I bought books etc. I’d play with a recording and it was almost always fine insofar as the key was right. Omitted chords or not quite right chords, yes, that occasionally happened.
Sometimes I’d play a song that was originally a piano song and I’d run into keys I didn’t like (flats). A little transposing and a capo and I was usually good to go. Sometimes I’d have to write out the notes and rename the chord…C6 isn’t a chord I use but I could see it was the same notes as Am7
Lately I find chords at http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ but of course that doesn’t flesh out the melodies etc. for you. Still, it might help you fix a few chords.
The only reason I can think of is that there might be an original version that predates what you’re playing. The Fugees did “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” but Roberta Flack did it before them—that sort of thing. Possibly the original versions were in different keys, but they transposed it for different vocal ranges.
Back in college, when I showed my guitar teacher the sheet music I had for “Purple Rain,” his reaction was “This must’ve been written for piano: no one in his right mind would write a song in B-flat minor* for guitar.”
*I think that’s the key. If I’m wrong, chalk it up to this conversation happening 20 years ago.
Also, keep in mind that Sir Paul can neither read nor write music - so someone other than the original composer must be writing down the sheet music.
My main curiosity was whether or not there was a financial incentive to change the key in published sheet music to avoid paying copyright fees.
I seriously doubt it. Most musicians can transpose to different keys and I guess there are keyboards that imitate the “capo” effect by letting you turn a dial.
10-15 years ago people would put song lyrics on a webpage, maybe set in a nice font against an appropriate image for a background, like poetry. Then artistes (or their lawyers) took exception to it for some reason. That sort of website started disappearing. There also used to be a boatload of on-line resources for guitar chords, such as OLGA (On-Line Guitar Archives) that later were shut down under threat of lawsuits…the music charts always stated that these were for scholarship and research but that wasn’t good enough.
Hell, I can put on the record or pull it up on youtube, word process the lyrics, fart around, and figure out the basic chords for most songs. Round up the usual suspects, you know? I, IV, V(7) majors, minors are II, III, VI. But there’s some vested interest out there antsing for a sheet music sale and they aren’t letting it go.
Different for piano, I suppose, but dayum if you paid the bucks, you ought to be getting the real deal.
How would that work?
Copyright fees are not based on the key of the work. Or did you mean that a court would find a piece written in A-flat to be a different piece from an otherwise identical one printed in B-flat?
Nonsense. People are smarter than that. And a copyright isn’t issued for only one key for a work.
There are many reasons why the key for a published arrangement doesn’t match the original, not all of them logical. I was asked to use certain keys when doing piano-vocal arrangements because the publisher thought it would sell more sheet music if it was in the key of C natural instead of Q-flat. Nobody will buy a tune with too many flats or sharps in the sig, the theory goes.
I was asked to use 4/4 time on occasion, even if the work was obviously a triplet-based feel and 12/8 or 6/8 would have eliminated the constant triplet "3"s on the theory that the average purchaser would be scared off by an “odd” time sig.
The average purchaser of sheet music cannot do a takedown, which is what you are able to do easily. Professional musicians have no problem but it’s the amateurs who are buying the sheet music.
(I’ll make an exception for some complicated jazz tunes that have artsy-fartsy chords. For some of those, printed music can save a lot of takedown time.)
I’ll admit that for those who wish to play along with a recording, sheet music in other keys is frustrating. But you can’t please everyone all the time.
I’ve found that Beatles sheets are almost always in the correct key.
The only exception that comes to mind is “When I’m 64” which on the record is in C# (or Db). That one is published as in C… understandably so as it’s an uncomfortable key for amateur pianists. And I believe the Beatles did record it in C, but spun the tape up to give a brighter sound.
Sometimes I see piano music a fifth off… not even close. I don’t know why that is done other than to bring a high melody back down into that comfortable range between G and High C.
Thank you for the insight Musicat. I’m impressed that you have professional sheet music production experience; I’ve been making my own sheet music for students and myself for a long time, and I’m aware of the enormous difficulties involved whenever reduction or simplification is required.
Of course I didn’t mean total copyright avoidance, just partial. Judging from your input, it sounds like it might just be the case that corporate screws it up with their ‘one size fits all’ demands on the transcriber.
However, I’ve seen odd cases that I could not make sense of at all, such as ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ transposed from F to G. ??? …the only possible reason I could imagine would be to make it slightly easier for the guitar player. I also wouldn’t agree with the high Beatles accuracy claim that was mentioned. For example, I have a ‘Beatles Complete’ book where a high percentage are off.
As for an ‘easy transposition’ argument: IMO not valid, at least if you’re looking to simply play what’s written. A good arrangement takes advantage of the colors of the instrument, and a different key would screw them all up. Granted you could just rearrange it, but then you might as well just get a fake book. The arrangement on the page is pretty much limited to its key and perhaps a step or two below and above.
There used to be pianos that did this. Irving Berlin famously only played on the black notes (F#) but used a transposing piano that moves the keybed up and down the extended string set. He wasn’t the only one. If the arranger (who took down the transcription) watched his fingers, everthing would be in F#, but an actual performance could be in any key.
Also, an arrangement for group playing with non-C tuned instruments (Bb or Eb for trumpet or sax/clarinet) may be shifted to a compromise key, one in which all instrumentalists have a hard time playing 
And as noted, some musicians have tweaked the playback speed of recorded material or used a reference A-pitch that is not concert pitch to get the sound they want.
Si
He can write down chords, though!
A small change such as this certainly can make it more accessible to more amateur singers. With the original of this, I can just about get down to the bottom end of the vocals, and I’ve got a slightly dodgy bass voice. Bringing it up one tone doesn’t push the top end high too high, and so puts it into a more baritone-ish range. (And you’ve reminded me that I’ve got a choral accompaniement to sort out today, that is written in E but I need to play in E flat for the kids to get the top notes :mad: )
Only half true really. He may not be able to physically write music but he can certainly write it in terms of picking up a guitar or sitting at a piano and composing a song. When he does that he selects a key that suits him. When someone subsequently formally writes the sheet music for a commerically available Beatles piano music book and changes the key, they must be doing it for some reason, the fact the P.McC. can’t write music wouldn’t be one of them.
Some sheet music I’ve bought was “dumbed down” to an easier key for beginner or intermediate players to play. I’ve never played along with a record so it was never an issue.