Minor key - features, properties and requirements

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Major and minor are the two main classical European scales in music. Almost all musical compositions are written in them, but they are not the only ones. In addition to them, there are many more modal types, for example:

• Ionian;
• Dorian;
• Phrygian;
• Mixolydian;
• Aeolian;
• Locrian.

But as mentioned earlier, major and minor keys are the most common.

Defining dur and moll

"Major" in Latin is denoted by dur. Accordingly, moll in translation is "minor" (there is a similarity in the sound of the terms, therefore remembering is not considered a very difficult task).

Musical mode is a combination of stable and unstable steps, built according to a certain pattern.

Difference between dur and moll

Everyone knows the pronounced difference between the two main frets from each other:

• major - fun and light (translated from Latin - "big");
• minor - sad and gloomy (translatedfrom Latin "small").

But from a professional point of view, the difference in sound has a base that can justify this modal contrast.

Based on the course of musical grammar, it follows that the scale consists of 7 notes (the 8th is the first, but only the next octave), each note, in other words, is a step. Consequently, the number of these very steps will be equal to seven. Although they belong to the same family (for example, C major or C minor), they perform different functions.

Thus, family members are divided into stable and unstable steps. The former play the role of the basis for the tonality, while the latter can "walk" and are inconsistent. They crawl (resolve) into stable ones or go through modulation (leaving to another key).

In the minor key, the stable III step will always be lowered by half a step (from E to E-flat). It is this accidental sign (flat) that makes the minor triad so.

A triad is a three step chord.

Major key

Both major and minor include 7 notes, but their structure is different.

If we take C major as an example, then the note Do is the tonic, from which the count will go. So, the steps are at a certain distance from each other:

• I-II (tone);
• II-III (tone);
• III-IV (semitone);
• IV-V (tone);
• V-VI (tone);
• VI-VII (tone);
• VII- I (semitone).

It should be recalled that a semitone is the smallest distance between sounds, and a tone is the sum of two semitones.

Minor key

Structure of the same name in C, but already in minor:

• Do - Re (tone);
• Re - E-flat (semitone);
• E-flat - F (tone);
• F - Sol (tone);
• Sol - A-flat (semitone);
• A-flat - B-flat (tone);
• B flat - C (tone).

As you noticed, compared to the major there are significant changes. First of all, it is the presence of accidentals (in this case, flats) in a minor key. Their presence is due to the fact that the order of tones and semitones changes.

Building

In the major in the mandatory sequence go:

tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone

In minor key:

tone-semitone-tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone

In addition to the lowered III degree, the VI and VII steps are also lowered here by half a tone.

The two schemes described above are the basis for constructing all major and minor keys.

Parallels

In musical terminology, there is a concept such as "parallel keys". It involves the similarity of accidentals (flats and sharps) at a certain pitch and in exact order.

This means that the minor keys are parallel to the major ones. At first glance it might seem that the principleparallels are built like this: C major - C minor; D major - D minor, but this is a common mistake for beginners.

What's the point?

The keys are similar in that they have the same accidentals, but they are parallel because they are modally opposite. For example, C major is parallel to A minor, since neither the first nor the second keys have any signs at all. If you look at the piano keyboard, they will completely pass over the white keys.

The keys of D major will be parallel to B minor, since both the first and second have F and C sharp in the treble clef.

D-dur:

• I - II (tone);
• II - III F-sharp (tone);
• III F-sharp - IV (semitone);
• IV - V (tone);
• V - VI (tone);
• VI - VII C-sharp (tone);
• VII C-sharp - I (semitone).

h-moll (minor is written with small Latin letters):

• I - II C-sharp (tone);
• II C-sharp - III (semitone, III degree);
• III - IV (tone);
• IV - V F-sharp (tone);
• V F-sharp - VI (semitone);
• VI - VII (tone);
• VII - I (tone).

The signs of the minor key are equal to the signs of the major key.

It is worth noting that the tonality can have only one parallel. C major is only parallel to A minor and so on.

How to determine?

There is one very easy way to quickly identify parallel keys. From the solfeggio course, students know the concept of interval. One of them is a third (3 keys wide and includes two sounds at the edges).

Thus, a parallel can be determined by a third, but a small one. There are small and large intervals, their difference lies in the sum of the tones. The major third consists of 2 tones, and the minor of 1, 5.

If you need to find out the parallel to the major, then we build a minor third from the main note - C, for example, a major key, and eventually go down to the note A - and this is exactly what needed to be found. As a result, it turns out that the parallel minor key of C major will be a-moll.

Everything is the same with the minor, just the other way around: given the E minor, you need to immediately find out its parallel. From the note Mi we build a small third, but already up, we get the sound Sol.

Outcome: E minor is parallel to G major and includes the same signs.

Principle to avoid confusion:

• if you need to find a minor key - minor third DOWN;
• if you need to find a major key - the minor third is UP.

Minor types

There are 3 varieties of the minor that transform it into brighter yet distinctive sounds:

• natural;
• harmonic;
• melodic.

The natural form of the minor is the simplest, it appears before us in the classic version without any changes:

• main tonic stage - La;
• second stage - C;
• on line - Before;
• fourth on the list - Re;
• minor dominant - Mi;
• sixth clean - Fa;
• seventh clean - S alt;
• and againtonic - La.

The sound is transparent, simplified and less distinctive.

The minor harmonic is very bright and most preferred in practice.

• first tonic - La;
• second all the same - C;
• third, forming a minor third - Before;
• subdominant - Re;
• self-confident dominant - Mi;
• still calm sixth - Fa;
• already elevated and nervous - G-sharp;
• permission to tonic - La.

The peculiarity of the construction is the increase of the 7th step, which is just trying to resolve into the tonic. Her zeal is often shot through with tragedy. This technique is most often used as the end of a musical phrase and a piece as a whole.

The melodic form of the minor is the most difficult, as it has the most changes.

• chief host - La;
• stable second - C;
• modal characteristic - Before;
• subdominant fourth - Re;
• en titled - Mi;
• raised sixth - F-sharp;
• followed by the inspired seventh note - G-sharp;
• top of scale - La.

Rising, the VI and VII steps in the upper part of the scale go softly and lingering, due to which the view gets its name. It is worth noting that in the descending version there is no melodic form, i.e. in the reverse order, the minor will sound like a natural one:

• upper A;
• calmed seventh - Sol (bekar);
• behind her is the pacified sixth - Fa (bekar);
• everything is also stable - Mi;
• subdominant - Re;
• minor third - C;
• reaching for the tonic - C;
• dot in scale - La.

Bekary (a sign to cancel the increase and decrease) eliminate the sharps that were needed to increase the VI and VII steps. Since they do not change in their natural form, bekar returns them to their classic form.

In the major, all types are also present, but the changes in the structure are different.

All keys

There are 24 keys in total, but there is no point in memorizing without logic. For a similar purpose, an absolutely brilliant thing serves - a quarto-fifth or simply a fifth circle.

It includes both major and minor keys.

The circle is built on the principle of the same parallel described above. Its basis is the beloved C major and A minor. But why? These two keys, firstly, are parallel and, secondly, have absolutely no signs at the key. Further movement goes in two directions;

• on the right - sharp keys;
• left - flat keys.

However, they do not move in a chaotic manner, but in a strict order, which is determined by the number of characters.

In C major and A minor - 0 signs, and then there is a branching:

• on G major and its parallel - E minor (=1 sharp);
• F major and its parallel - D minor (=1 flat).

They will be followed by tonalities already with two signs, and so it will continue in a circle up to the maximumquantity is seven. These will be the keys:

• F-sharp major and his friend - D-sharp minor;
• G-flat major with E-flat minor.

For a detailed analysis of minor keys, the circle of fifths is great. There is no way to get lost in it, as all the important information is arranged in miniature.

For the first time, the concept of a circle appeared in the work of the theorist and composer Diletsky called "The Idea of Musik Grammar" dated 1679.

I. S. Bach in practice demonstrated the diversity of all keys in the collection "The Well-Tempered Clavier". It included 48 preludes and fugues written in two volumes.

Chopin and later Shostakovich wrote their preludes in all 24 keys.

Result

Music is the same mathematics, where you can't do without calculations, calculations and schemes. A paradoxical thought: all the artistic splendor of the sound is backed up by a base based on numbers and tables.

Minor keys are a bright means of expression that can affect the body from different physiological sides and release real human feelings from the soul.