A flat third can be spelled with any letter of the musical alphabet whether its a natural note name, flat note name, or sharp note name. Please review intervals if you are still confused on this. Intervals are essential to understanding scale and chord construction.
Notice the third of the major scale C is one note lower in the minor scale C. This gives them their major and minor sound qualities. You will notice there are actually three different notes between a major scale and a natural minor scale which start on the same note compare the diagrams above. While there are 3 different notes, the essential note giving these scales their major or minor sound quality is the 3rd. As you continue studying scales you will learn there are many different major-sounding scales e.
Major, Major Pentatonic, Mixolydian, Lydian and many different minor-sounding scales e. Regardless of what other notes differ, it is the 3rd that gives a scale its "major-ness" or "minor-ness". Flatting the 3rd creates a minor 3rd interval giving the minor triad its minor sound. The other intervals that build scales and chords can and will be a mixture of major, minor, and perfect intervals. For each major scale there is a corresponding minor scale that uses the same notes known as its relative minor scale.
The starting note of a relative minor scale is 3 half steps lower than the major scale. So now you have the ability to take any starting note and make a major or minor scale. In the long run intermediate and advanced musicians will know all 12 major and 12 minor scales on their instrument. Notice that the same sequence of whole and half notes are used, but with a different starting point. The formula above just describes a scale known as the natural minor scale.
The minor scale that starts on the same note as a major scale is known as its parallel minor scale ; so the parallel minor scale of C major is C minor. There are three types of minor scales left, the natural, harmonic, and melodic minor scales.
Terminology can get confusing at this point, so understand that:. There is another way to discover the natural minor scale. Start by numbering the notes in a major scale 1 — 7, where 1 corresponds to the first note of the scale, 2 to the second etc; these numbers are known as the scale degree.
One way to arrive at the natural minor scale is to lower the 3rd, 6th, and 7th scale degrees. While this scale does create a minor, or melancholy and sad tonality, the flattened seventh scale degree causes some issues.
In a major scale the 7th scale degree B is a half step away from the 1st scale degree C. Half steps are more tense than whole steps. So when the 7th B of a major scale moves to the 1st C it creates a strong sense of resolution. The solution is to create a minor scale with a natural 7th scale degree. This is the Harmonic Minor Scale shown below. These comments are based on this Michael News excellent youtube video on minor scales. At seconds he discusses the need for more scales than just the natural minor scale; he provides auditory examples that are helpful in improving understanding.
Typically you can tell a piece primarily uses a major scale if it makes you feel happy, and primarily uses a minor scale if it makes you feel sad. I find the following pieces more difficult to place; do you think they are predominantly major or minor? It pulls on the heart, with a deep, somber sound. Yet it is written in a major key although it ends on a minor chord. This one is written in a minor key, but has surprising major chords interspersed throughout which I think adds the excitement and ambiguity.
Some individuals of the Mafa population of north western Africa are unfamiliar with western music. This suggests that aspects of our music innately invoke certain emotions. So why is major so associated with positive emotions and minor associated with negative emotions. Here are some theories:.
Do you want to make the most out of these theory concepts? Music theory. Back Understanding basic music theory What is sight-singing? Music Technology. Music memos. Back What are intervals in music? What are chords in music? What are chord progressions? What are scales in music?
What is Swing? Music in a Minor Key. Minor Scales. Figure 4. Natural Minor Scale Intervals. Go to Solution For each note below, write a natural minor scale, one octave, ascending going up beginning on that note. Relative Minor and Major Keys. Comparing Major and Minor Scale Patterns. The interval patterns for major and natural minor scales are basically the same pattern starting at different points.
Relative Minor. The C major and C minor scales start on the same note, but have different key signatures. C minor and E flat major start on different notes, but have the same key signature. C minor is the relative minor of E flat major. Go to Solution What are the relative majors of the minor keys in Figure 4.
Harmonic and Melodic Minor Scales. Note Do key signatures make music more complicated than it needs to be? Comparing Types of Minor Scales. Go to Solution Rewrite each scale from Figure 4. Jazz and "Dorian Minor". Dorian Minor. The "dorian minor" can be written as a scale of natural notes starting on d. Any scale with this interval pattern can be called a "dorian minor scale".
Comparing Dorian and Natural Minors. Comparison of Dorian and Minor Scales. You may also find it useful to compare the dorian with the minor scales from Figure 4.
0コメント