I have key issues. In what key is Gershwin’s “Summertime”?
Good question. The guitar chords that I can find from a google search put it in either Am</a](http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/getsome.org/guitar/olga/main/g/gershwin_george/summertime.crd">Am</a)>,
or possibly some version](http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/getsome.org/guitar/olga/main/g/george_gershwin/summertime.crd%22%3Eversion) of Dm. I’ll have to wait till I get home so I can play along to see
which is accurate.
The Dminor-ish chord progression looks much more complicated, so that’s probably the
correct one…
Edit: Oops, that first progression is Am, not Em. With Jsluder’s post (Am has the same key
sig as C) that probably confirms it
They key signature on the [u]sheet music[/u] is C, but the description at [u]Sheet Music Plus[/u] says it’s in A Minor. Ah, just transpose the thing to whatever key you want. 
I thought it was customary to ask the singer what key they wanted it in?
Actually, this is what I was going to say…usually in a piece like this, it depends on what key the singer is comfortable in.
or, as an instrumental, it depends on the treatment and the key the instrument is in… Some keys are easier for hot or cool…depends on what ya feel like at the time.
“And here’s Summertime, in the key… to YOUR NEW CAR!”
Sorry, channeling Bob Barker there…
No Sharps, no flats. A minor. (the relative minor to C major)
Should lie nicely in B minor on a D whistle. (start on f#)
A ridiculous key. I took a voice class once in which that was one of the available songs I could choose to sing. And a lower key was available to those who could not manage the uber-soprano of the operatic original.
According to my Readers Digest collection it’s in Am.
I play it on a Dm harmonica but I’m not sure what key I actually play it in.
I assumed Dale was asking because he was trying to figure out what whistle to use to play
along with a recording of the song. But, you know what happens when you assume…
I’ve become skeptical of popularly available printed versions. I couldn’t find them or wouldn’t pay for them so I learned to play along with the recordings. There was a particular Simon & Garfunkle tune a guitar player and I were trying to do–only to discover we were in different keys. I had learned my version from the record, but he responded in amazement that his key “was the way it was written” because he had found sheet music for it–apparently in an “easier” key. 
I’m sure we reached a compromise somewhere.
Poor soul, he was a beautiful young man, and talented, but committed suicide some years later. So sad, such a waste. Spare him a kind thought today.
M
I’ve heard it in different keys but I didn’t know if Uncle George had one in mind. To my ears, it sounds right played in A-minor.
I play it in Amin.
I’ve played along with two different (male) singers and used a C diatonic harmonica for both. I think that works out as A Aeolian mode. I can’t think that all female singers would want that pitch though. 
Steve
When I’ve played Gershwin, I never really noticed the key- all the notation itself is enough to freak me out 
but then, I’m playing Gershwin on piano…or, trying anyway…
FWIW, either the Gershwin tune or a very close relative is listed in one of the Walton’s beginner collections as “The Golden Jubilee”. It does start out on A. so “A-minor” sounds reasonable (don’t have the book here at work, so can’t give better details)
My memory of the Gershwin tune may be rusty, but when I listened to the that tune on the CD they provided it sure sounded like Gershwin to me.
Whatever whistle (or flute) you’re playing, start on the fingering xxx xoo (2nd octave)
Sounds great on a Bb flute, BTW
M
Last time this came up on the Chiffboard, I’m pretty sure I determined the original key was playable on a D whistle – I want to say it’s got two sharps. (And actually probably is D major with a lot of minor chords rather than B minor.)
Of course, now I cannot find that thread, nor my sheet music for Porgy & Bess, much less the handy dandy complete score to Porgy & Bess I had checked out from the library at the time. And my wife’s asleep, so I cannot crank up the opera and check against a whistle.
Jen is up, just checked against the CD. (By which I mean, the first disc of a 3-CD set of the opera. Track two, the first time it appears in the score, though I think it’s in the same key every time.) It’s totally in B minor, plays like a dream on a standard D whistle. First note is an F#, last note is a B.