Musical Theory II

Minor keys and their relative majors

Last week we finished with the list of sharps and flats for each respective major key. The major key is the most common of modes, and produces a pleasant sounding, happy result. The second most common of the modes is the minor key, which tends to produce a sad or melancholy result.

The natural minor of any key starts on the 6th note of the relative major scale, keeping the original key signature of the key. For example, the key of A minor would have the relateive major of C (as A is the sixth note of the C major scale). This means that an A natural minor scale would be to play the notes from A to A, with not sharps or flats. Now we know that the key of A major has three sharps, F#, C#, G#. Those of you familiar with the sound of major scales will probably feel like there are "wrong notes" being played in this scale. It just takes a little getting used to.

We didn't call a major key a "natural major" key, so why refer to the minor as natural minor? Because the natural minor of a key is the theoretical minor. In practice there are two played minors, the harmonic and the melodic. The natural minor is the basis for both of these minor scales.

The harmonic minor is the same as the natural minor with the exception of the seventh note, which is raised by one semitone. In our example of A minor, this would have G go to G#, as it would be in A major. The result is a slightly Middle Easern, or Egyptian sounding scale. The harmonic minor scale is the same ascending as descending, much like all of the other scales we have dealt with so far. The melodic minor is slightly different. Ascending, the melodic minor is based on the notes from the natural minor with the sixth and seventh notes raised a semitone. In our example of A minor, this would have F# and G#, resulting in on the the third (C#) being indicative of the minor key. Descending, the natural minor is played.

The above wheel is a circle of fifths. The concept of the circle of fifths is an easy one, the next key starts on the 5th note of the previous key. This circle has both the major and minor keys, as well as the key signatures listed. The circle of fifths will be revisited later as related to chord progressions.

Next week we will cover the modes, in both the Church (Gregorian) and Greek names.