This is a nifty little widget that acts as an interactive map of musical key relationships. Simply click around the interface to explore connections between various keys or press specific keys on your computer keyboard to get around faster.
Starting with the dropdown menu at the very top, you select your home tonic. A complete range of keys are available. The next option alongside this menu toggles mode switch between major or minor, which makes a difference in terms of what chords and scale degrees is considered part of key to your chosen start point. Finally, volume slider enables you to alter the sound according to your surroundings.
How to Use the Musical Key Map Widget
On screen is a six-point compass around your home key showing six primary harmonic relationships. Clicking one of the route buttons will displays information about that modulation. Each one of those will be either the Parallel or Relative route (with only the Relative sharing all seven notes), the Dominant or Subdominant (moving a perfect fifth up or down circle of fifths to closest keys) or the Mediant Rise and Fall (more distant chromatic movements).
On the right is passport panel showing how the chosen destination relate to your home key. It reveals not only which tones has changed but also what tones are shared on the same scale. That will help you judge whether modulation is going to be smooth or abrupt. Below the metrics are the pivot chords; these are harmonies that commonly connects the two keys. You can listen to each one by clicking on it, and they reveals their role in the two scales.
Below left is the tonal lattice with all twelve chromatic pitches shown. Each one has been coloured according to whether it’s in original key (home), the target key (destination), both or neither. By clicking on any of the cells you’ll get to hear just that note alone. Its category will also be displayed. It then lets you recognize common notes that might act as anchor points when modulating.
Use the stamp to add destinations to your itinerary and build a journey. Click the stamp button for destination that has a relationship you like. When you do this, it adds a key to your sequence and stamps it with a key of your choice. Add more keys to make a longer harmonic progression. To launch, click launch and listen as entire journey plays out from your home key, including all the stops where you’ve stamped destinations. The Undo Button removes last added key. Recall Home resets the sequence.
Navigation is easy using keyboard commands (no need for the mouse): Use arrow keys to jump around from route-to-route in the compass. Select a route by pressing the relevant number keys: 1 through 6. Pressing the J key will launch your itinerary as it stands now. Press the U key to undo previous stamp you made. Pressing the H key bring back the home key.
The fullscreen button expands the widget, giving you more screen space for the lattice and chart. Clicking the fullscreen button in the header will do that. Great if you’re interested in viewing visual relationship between keys alone. To get out of fullscreen mode, you can either click the button again or hit the escape key.
There’s also a quick reference for conventions and controls found within the help panel. If you’ve forgotten something then just click the help toggle to bring up some info. It details the keyboard mapping as well as explains how each of these relationships makes sense from a musical point of view.
Experimenting with various home keys is an option, and you can see how different routes moves to nearest keys on circle of fifths. Notice that relative minor of any major key contains same notes. That contrasts with the parallel minor that has the same root but changes its harmonic color. The pivot chords provides smooth transition points from far apart keys.
Begin with selecting a suitable volume and home key. Then choose one of your favourite routes. Listen to the change in tone as you go along it. Stamp some destinations on it to make a brief trip. Hit the play button to see how the keys link up. Enjoy discovering the musical landscape on your terms.