an educational thread on why g flat major which is the key moon is in, can be difficult to sing:

in music, there are many different keys that all have different tones, the key that moon is sung in is g flat major!

in music, we have what is called the musical alphabet which includes seven letters, A-B-C-D-E-F-G , and it repeats again! you don’t necessarily have to start on A to build a scale! it can start off on B,C,D, and so on!

like mentioned, there are seven letters in the musical alphabet which are called natural notes ‘regular’. in music we also have what are called accidentals which include sharps or flats.

a sharp note can be defined as a raised pitch, or a natural pitch that is raised to the next consecutive pitch. a flat note is basically the opposite, it is a natural pitch that is lowered to the next consecutive pitch!

the symbol for a sharp on a music sheet looks much like a hashtag, while the symbol for a flat looks like a lower case b.

g flat major has six flats in total! but what does this mean? it is extremely difficult for a musician to sing in tune, because a musician’s ear will want to sing sharper or flat which makes a vocalist sound out of tune sometimes! it requires a good ear to sing this key!

moon, is a song that includes octaves! in simple terms, an octave is used to describe an interval- the musical distance between two notes! If you build a scale, A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A, the interval between A-1 and A-2 is an octave because it spans 8 notes including the two A’s!

singing an octave is difficult for anyone, you have to sing the note below and the one above in tune and sometimes people can crack!

one of the highest notes in moon is an E flat! which is high to sing! i myself have tried to sing it, and i cannot sing it in tune! besides singing it in tune, vocalists have to sing the notes with confidence and not sound scared, seokjin sings the notes like it’s nothing!

when musicians want to sing a note, there are many elements that come into play, musicians have to coordinate their lungs, diaphragm, throat, mouth, tongue and lips and so much- from a change in lung pressure to the wrong shape of the mouth can go wrong!

another thing that can be difficult is switching between keys, as an example if seokjin was singing black swan which is in a TOTALLY different key than moon, he has to make sure to adjust quickly!

another important element that comes into play is tempo, which can be defined as the pace or speed at which a section of the music is played. moon is a song that has a fast tempo! a tempo is usually in beats per minute.

musicians have to make sure to keep up with the tempo. it takes countless hours of practicing with a metronome which is a device that produces an audible click, it helps musicians keep the tempo steady and not slow down or speed up!

seokjin has to make sure to sing in tune while keeping the tempo, and he makes it seems so effortless if you ask me! another thing to add, is he has to make sure to breathe in the right places, to not run out of air while singing!

seokjin executes all of these elements really well in moon, and on top of that adds the perfect emotion to this song. moon is such a beautiful song which includes the guitar the lyrics to the song are really meaningful and the way he evokes his emotions make me teary-eyed.

in conclusion, i think everyone should really appreciate seokjin’s solos because i myself have never been disappointed in them! moon is a beautiful song, and extremely difficult to sing with so many flats in the key and seokjin did a wonderful job singing moon!