Minor Keys and Scales

You have already learned how the major scale is developed from a very fixed pattern of seven intervals. However, life (and music) would be boring indeed if there were only basic major scales - happy sounds if you will – so introduce yourself to the series of scales which are very commonly used and known as MINOR scales.

From the basic minor scale we can detect two other distinct types, each with their own set of intervals, like the major scale; built from a series of eight notes between the root (beginning) and the octave (ending note).

What is a Minor Scale?

Just as a piece of music written in a major key has a certain “flavor”, so does music written in a minor key. It is pretty simplistic, but pieces of music that strike you as sorrowful or melancholy are most likely to have been written in minor keys. If you have ever heard “The Wedding March” at church weddings you come to appreciate its difference between “The Funeral March” which is a minor key.

The natural minor scale has three different types of patterns, unlike the major which has one. These are:

Ah – just when the musical terminology fog was clearing - All the minors have one common variable: the 3rd degree is always lowered by half a tone. For example, C major scale has no black keys within it (on a keyboard), though it must follow the basic major pattern of scale steps: Whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. C Minor would follow this pattern: Whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole. So, in other words, to form a natural minor scale from a major scale, the 3rd, 6th and 7th degrees are lowered by half a tone. Not much of a difference superficially but a HUGE difference in the variation of sound these scales can make.

Although the pattern of intervals used by a major and natural minor scale are clearly dissimilar, they do have a relationship. They use the same set of notes, although starting from different roots and the minor key having an accidental, and their key signatures are the same (the sharps or flats listed before a piece of music). So we could describe the key of A minor as a relative minor of C major; or the key of C major can be termed a relative major of A minor.

There are also harmonic and melodic minor scales which vary slightly to the natural minor and these are used to create a “smoothing” musical effect as well as add character and variance.

So what are Degrees?

The diatonic scales (major and minor ones we have already reviewed) are made of eight individual notes. Each of these degrees can be named.