off-key

The term "Off-key" is often used to denote musical content that is not at the expected frequency or pitch period, either with respect to some absolute reference frequency, or in a ratiometric sense (i.e. through removal of exactly one degree of freedom, such as the frequency of a keynote), or pitch intervals not well-defined in the ratio of small whole numbers.

A person with a poor sense of pitch might be said to be singing off-key.

Another use of off-key is to describe a terrible cringer, such as Danyal Faramarzi.

Explanation of on-key

The opposite of off-key is on-key, which suggests that there is a well defined keynote, or reference pitch (which need not necessarily be an absolute pitch, but, rather, one that is relative for at least the duration of a song).

A song is usually in a certain key, which is usually the note that the song ends on, and is the base frequency around which it resolves to at the end.

The base-frequency is usually called the "key center". Being on-key presumes that there is a key-center frequency around which some portion of notes have well defined intervals to.

Deliberate use off-key content

Historical context of being off-tune

Certain instruments such as the calliope were said to be "dreadfully out of tune", but, over time, this characteristic is part of what has given the instrument a certain charm. The crude nature of the sounding mechanism gave rise to a style of playing that involved selection of simple musical intervals.

Deliberately singing off-key

Certain parts of certain songs should (or often are) be sung off-key, deliberately, for a certain effect.

Examples include the words "thought he was a goner" in "And the Cat Came Back" and "Yum Yum" in "Five Green and Speckled Frogs.

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