Piano in a Flash | Piano accompaniment: How to accompany yourself or others on the piano

How to accompany yourself or others on the piano

By Scott Houston

The holidays are the perfect time to gather around the piano with your friends and loved ones for some good old-fashioned singalongs. But maybe you or one of your carolers are wondering—how do you vocally match the tune being played on the piano?

The trick is finding the right key. If you’re not sure how to figure out the key in your playing or singing, then not to worry! This is a common question that stumps many players who would love some experience with piano accompaniment or want to dabble in both singing and playing. Whether you’re hoping to sing along to a tune yourself, or wanting to accompany someone on the piano, this blog will break down everything you need to know about keys, key signatures, why they’re important, and how to find the right one for your tunes on either side of the piano bench.

First let’s answer the question: what does key mean in music?

In music, the key of a song refers to the specific set of chords and notes that form the basis of the melody and harmony of the piece. It describes the group of pitches that make up the scale (set of notes in descending or ascending order) played in a song. The key of a song can have a major or minor tonality, which has a significant impact on its overall mood and feel. For example, the ever-popular C major key sounds bubbly, innocent, and happy, while D major key sounds victorious and war-like.

How to find key of a song with a lead sheet

There are a few different ways to determine the key of a song. One way is to listen to the song and try to determine the tonal center or the note that the song seems to revolve around—but I’ll talk more about identifying keys by ear below. As a beginner piano player, it’s super simple to look at the key signature on your song’s lead sheet to see which key the song is written in. A key signature determines the key of a song and describes the set amount of accidentals (sharps and flats) to be played. It can be found on the staff at the very beginning of your sheet music.

Key signatures with sharps

Key signatures with flats

Finding the key on the piano by ear for playing

If you’re like me and like to have fun on the piano without having to depend on sheet music all the time, you can easily find the key of a tune with a little noodling and experimentation! One way to do it is to listen to the song and try to identify the tonal center, or the “home” note that the song seems to revolve around. This is often the note that the song ends on or the note that is played the most often. Once you have identified the tonal center, you can use the piano to try playing the song in different keys until you find the one that best matches the original recording or has the lowest amount of accidental notes or notes outside of a key signature. You can also try singing the song yourself, starting on different pitches until you find the one that sounds best. This can help you to identify the key by ear.

Finding the right key for your vocal range with lead sheets

As a singer, you can also determine the key of a tune to sing in by looking at the notes of the melody line—which will always have a different range between their highest and lowest notes depending on the songs. For that reason, you need to shift the melody line into your range as best you can, and then determine what key is needed to fit the melody line there. Here’s how:

You can “slide” a tune up or down a few notes to get the melody comfortably in your range by transposing—or taking the chord changes to a tune and moving them all up or down the same interval (or number of half-steps) throughout the entire tune.

Personally, if I am looking at a new tune to sing to, I’ll use my lead sheet to find out the song’s key and sign along in that key to see if it’s possible without getting too low or too high for my voice. If it is uncomfortably high, I’ll just transpose it down a couple of notes until it gets that high part I am having trouble with down into my range. I then will just adjust every chord symbol up or down the same interval and “learn” the tune in that key instead, and will play it there enough times until I get the chord changes memorized. Watch this mini-lesson to practice and get the hang of it with me!