Thread: Help!!!

Hi, I'm in a beginning music theory class and for our final project we have to analyze a piece of music. I chose "The Cat and the Mouse" by Copland. We have to say what key the piece is in and I can't figure out whether it's major or minor. I know it starts out in 2 sharps so that would be either D major or B minor but I don't know which. Then it moves into no sharps so that would be either C major or A minor but again I don't know which. Can anyone help?!?! Thanks!!!

Hi, welcome to Talk Classical.

I know many, many works by Copland but I must confess never heard of this particular one. I've just added it to my Emule downloads and after some listenings I hope I can give you a helping hand.

I only hope you are not trying to cheat in your exam...

If you excuse me saying so, you sound a little out of depth. Can you play it - even a rough try-out? Your ears should tell you whether a passage is in major or minor unless it's excessively chromatic.

Look for cadences. If it's in D Major, you should see some progressions from A Major to D Major. (A chord with A C# E followed by a chord with D F# A). If it's in b minor, you'll see cadences from F# A# C# to b d f#. If you see neither cadence, or both, the section is tonally ambiguous. Sometimes, you won't get every note in a chord. If this is the case, look at the bassline. Are there any progressions from A to D? F# to B? A final clue is the last chord in the piece. If the last chord is a D chord, it's in D. If it's a B chord, it's in b minor.