E major
- REDIRECT Template:Infobox musical scale
- Also see: E minor, or E-flat major.
E major is a major scale with a base note of E. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor.
E major is hard for wind instruments to play. It is quite good for violin, because two of the open strings are A and E, the tonic and subdominant. Other orchestral string instruments can play well in it, and it is also good for the guitar. When writing in E major, clarinets in A should be used instead of clarinets in B-flat to make it easier to play. This is because clarinets are transposing instruments.
Symphonies in E major are quite rare, but the key is often used for concertos. One of them is Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.
The bells of the Clock Tower in London's Palace of Westminster are tuned to the key of E major.