Just change the key

When I was a kid, I suppose sometime in my early teens, I was interested in music theory, but I couldn't play piano. One time I asked a lady who played piano at our church to play a piece of sheet music for me so I could hear how it sounded. The music was in the key of A, but she played it in A. She didn't say she was going to change the key, but I could tell from looking at her hands that she had.

I was shocked by the audacity of changing the music to be what you wanted it to be rather than playing what was on the page. I was in band, and there you certainly don't decide unilaterally that you're going to play in a different key!

In retrospect what the pianist was doing makes sense. Hymns are very often in the key of A. One reason is it's a comfortable key for SATB singing. Another is that if many hymns are in the same key, that makes it easy to go from one directly into another. If a traditional hymn is not in A, it's probably in a key with flats, like B or D. (Contemporary church music is often in keys with sharps because guitarists like open strings, which leads to keys like A or E.)

The pianist wasn't a great musician, but she was good enough. Picking her key was a coping mechanism that worked well. Unless someone in the congregation has perfect pitch, you can change a song from the key of D to the key of D and nobody will know.

There's something to be said for clever coping mechanisms, especially if they're declared, You asked forA. Is it OK if I give youB?" It's better than saying Sorry, I can't help you."

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