Musicians are convinced this singing TikTok dog only enjoys music in E major tonality

2 November 2021, 17:42 | Updated: 25 October 2022, 17:11

By Sophia Alexandra Hall

Oscar the rescue dog has gone viral on TikTok for his elite taste in music, and astute commenters have suggested that this musical mutt might have a favourite key signature...

Do you have a favourite key signature? Because this discerning dog does.

At least, that’s according to TikTok. Oscar is a rescue dog, who is partially paralysed from the waist down, and has found social media fame due to his selective taste in music.

A recent video released by his owner, revealed his favourite songs to sing along with are Love Yourself by Justin Bieber, MC’s Hammer Can’t Touch This, and Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve.

Take the quiz: Which key signature are you?

After demonstrating to viewers Oscar’s propensity to only sing along to these three tunes, and no other songs by the respective artists, his owner ends the video by asking the comment section: what connects these three songs?

Ever the challenge-accepting critics that are TikTok users, commenters were quick to point out that the majority of these songs were in E major, with a prominent E pedal in the MC Hammer track.

Justin Bieber - 'Love Yourself'

Another dog that famously enjoyed the key of E was Peps, Richard Wagner’s Cavalier King Charles spaniel.

Wagner’s biographers would describe how Peps would sit by the piano and howl depending on whether or not he liked the music the legendary composer was creating.

When composing, Wagner noticed that Peps would wag his tail to E flat major, while E major caused the animal to stand up in an excited manner.

It is reported that this is how Wagner decided on the idea of linking musical keys with emotions, and when writing the opera, Tannhäuser, the composer consequently linked the key of E flat to the theme of holy love and salvation, while linking E major to sensual love and debauchery.

Wagner’s first wife, Minna with one of their dogs — Wagner’s first wife, Minna, with one of their dogs. Picture: Getty

Returning to Oscar’s taste in music, the dog’s favouring of E major has since been slightly disproven by a second Halloween-themed video his owner posted on the short-form video app.

In the video, Oscar happily joins in with Billy Joel’s Piano Man, and John Legend’s All of Me, which are in C major and A flat major respectively.

If anything, we think this simply proves Oscar to be a well-rounded musician capable of enjoying multiple keys and genres.

Thank you for sharing your top tunes with us Oscar; make sure to listen to this year’s Classic FM’s Pet Classics and we promise to share some of our favourite E major anthems with you.