Alan Dudley asks:

>Is the character of a piece changed if it is transposed?

As a pianists, I can offer this.  Some keys lead naturally to certain sound
effects (oops? - remember my def.  of music) because of the way that the
keys of the piano lay under the hands.  Chopin's music is full of examples
that the key of the piece determined the melody by the feel of the keys
under the hand.  For pianists that compose at the piano, this seems to have
a great effect on the character of the song.  For improvising, the keys
with many black notes are very helpful for remembering patterns.  This is
more difficult when the keys are all white.  For the key if G the leading
tone is black.  For F the 4th is black, for Eb the 1st, 4th, and 5th are
black, that sort of thing.

As someone pointed out, fingering (on the piano) can get quite difficult if
the key is changed.  This is apart from the fact that moving the melody to
another register also effects its character.  When I teach piano I tell the
student that the black keys are not to be avoided, they are your friends
and help you memorize the piece using the black and white patterns of the
keys.

Bill Pirkle