WHAT IS THE CAMELOT WHEEL?
The hawker wheel is a graphic representation of a music theory called the cycle of fifths (or circle of fourths). The Ukrainian Nikolay Diletsky was the first in 1679 to develop this tool, the German Johann David Heinichen will give it its graphic form in 1728. This representation is a circle divided into 12 degrees serving to show the relationship between the 12 degrees of the chromatic scale, their corresponding alterations, and their associated tonality. The Camelot wheel is in fact no different from this system and is only novel in the attribution of a number to a degree for rapid recognition of the uninitiated. This little novelty was designed by the company “Mixed In Key” for its harmonic mixing development software bearing the same name and has thus renamed “the Camelot system”. Thus this “Mixed in Key” software offers deejays and musical programmers the ease of their selection and sequence of music, according to this system of the cycle of fifths (or circle of fourths) after having analyzed the different Tones (major or minor) and Tonics ( do, re mi, fa sol, la, si) of music files.
WHAT ARE A QUINTE AND A QUARTE?
In music, a fifth is an interval of 7 semitones, or 3 tones, and 1 diatonic semitone above a note. It is known and appreciated because it points to the consonances of the notes. That is, any note played simultaneously with the note pointed to by its fifth sounds pleasant to the ear. It is the same for the fourth that it points to the consonant note at an interval of 7 semitones, that is to say, 3 tones and 1 diatonic semitone below a note. The Fifths and the Fourths are very often used for the composition of music. In order to better visualize these explanations, I made you a graph translating the name of the notes and representing the placement of the fifths.
HOW TO READ THE CAMELOT WHEEL?
The Camelot wheel divides into 12 degrees divided into an inner part representing the “minor mode” called A and an outer part representing the “major mode” called B, the major and minor modes are called the Tonality. The 12 degrees divided into 2 are listed from 1 to 12 and represent a precise musical note distributed by the cycle of fifths. The numbers are thus associated with the letters A and B to define what is called a “harmonic key”. So it is very easy to recognize the harmonic consonances of the keys. The keys that sound and mix in a pleasant way are the keys that touch each other. Also, for example, the harmonic key 1B sounds good with the keys 12B, 2B, and 1A.
