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Major and minor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Western music, the adjectives major and minor can describe a musical composition, movement,
section, scale, key, chord, or interval.

Major and minor are frequently referred to in the titles of classical compositions, especially in
reference to the key of a piece.

Contents
1 Intervals and chords
2 Keys
2.1 Minor keys
2.2 Relative major and minors
2.3 Relation to musical 'mode'
2.4 Gender
3 Scales and chords
3.1 Minor scales
4 Intonation and tuning
5 Advanced theory
6 See also
7 Sources
8 External links

Intervals and chords

With regard to intervals, the words major and minor just mean
large and small, so a major third is a wider interval, and a minor
third a relatively narrow one. The intervals of the second, third,
sixth, and seventh (and compound intervals based on them) may
be major or minor.
Major and minor third in a major
The other uses of major and minor, in general, refer to musical chord: major third 'M' on bottom,
structures containing major thirds or minor thirds. A major scale minor third 'm' on top. Play
is one whose third degree is a major third above the tonic, while
a minor scale has a minor third degree. A major chord or major
triad, similarly, contains a major third above the root, whereas a minor chord or minor triad
contains a minor third above the root. In Western music, a minor chord, in comparison, "sounds

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darker than a major chord".[1]

Relative tonic chords on C and A.

Play

Parallel tonic chords on C

Major chord Minor chord

The difference between the major and minor
chord may be seen if they are drawn in
chromatic circle.

Keys
The hallmark that distinguishes major keys
from minor is whether the third scale degree
is major or minor. "The crucial difference is
that in the minor scale there is only a half step
between "2nd and 3rd note" and between "5th
and 6th note" as compared to the major scales
Parallel major Play and minor Play scales on C:
where the difference between "3rd and 4th
note" and between "7th and 8th note" is common notes connected by a vertical line, the root
and the fifth of the primary triads
half."[1] This alteration in the third degree
"greatly changes" the mood of the music, and
"music based on minor scales tends to" be considered to "sound serious or melancholic".[1]

Minor keys

The minor scale can be described in two different ways. One way is to consider it as the sixth mode
of a major scale, while the other is to call it a variation of the major scale, with the third scale
degrees always lowered (or altered) and the sixth and seventh degrees often lowered.

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Minor keys are sometimes said to have a more interesting, possibly sadder sound than plain major
scales.[2] The minor mode, with its variable sixth and seventh degrees, offers nine notes, in C:
C-D-E♭-F-G-A♭-A♮-B♭-B♮, over the major mode's seven, in C: C-D-E-F-G-A-B.

Harry Partch considers minor as, "the immutable faculty of ratios, which in turn represent an
immutable faculty of the human ear."[3] The minor key and scale are also considered less justifiable
than the major, with Paul Hindemith calling it a "clouding" of major, and Moritz Hauptmann
calling it a "falsehood of the major".[3]

Relative major and minors

The relative minor of a major key has the same key signature and starts down a minor third (or
equivalently up a major sixth); for example, the relative minor of G major is E minor. Similarly the
relative major of a minor key starts up a minor third (or down a major sixth); for example, the
relative major of F minor is A♭ major.

Relation to musical 'mode'

Contrastingly, changes of mode, which would involve the alteration of the third, and mode mixture,
are often analyzed as minor or trivial changes unless structurally supported because the root and
overall key and tonality remain unchanged. This is in contrast with, for instance, transposition.
Transposition is done by moving all intervals up or down a certain constant interval, and does
change key, but does not change mode, which requires the alteration of intervals. The use of triads
only available in the minor mode, such as the use of A♭-major in C major, is relatively decorative
chromaticism, considered to add color and weaken sense of key without entirely destroying or
losing it.

Gender

In western music theory, keys, chords, and scales are often described as having major or minor
tonality, sometimes related to masculine and feminine genders, especially in languages with
insistent syntactical gender assignments. By analogy, the major scales are given stereotypically
masculine qualities (clear, open, extroverted), while the minor scales are given stereotypically
feminine qualities (dark, soft, introverted). German uses the word Tongeschlecht ("Tone gender")
for tonality, and the words Dur (from Latin durus, 'hard') for major and moll (from Latin mollis,
'soft') for minor.

Scales and chords

Major and minor chords may each be found in both the major and minor scales, constructed on
different degrees of each. For example in the parallel keys on C on the first degree of the major
scale a major chord (C-E-G) is constructed while on the first degree of the minor scale a minor
chord (C-E♭-G) is constructed:

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Scale 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Major major minor minor major major minor diminished
Natural minor minor diminished major minor minor major major
Harmonic minor minor diminished augmented minor major major diminished

Minor scales

There are three variations of the minor scale: natural, harmonic and melodic.

In the natural minor scale, all scale degrees are the same as the relative major. For example, in the
"A minor natural scale", the notes are A-B-C-D-E-F-G. In a harmonic minor scale, the 7th note is
raised a semitone, both ascending and descending (A-B-C-D-E-F-G♯). In a melodic minor scale,
the 6th and 7th notes ascending are raised a semitone (A-B-C-D-E-F♯-G♯), and descending, the 6th
and 7th notes are natural (A-B-C-D-E-F♮-G♮).

Intonation and tuning

Underlying perceived musical tuning of intervals is the frequency relationship expressed as a
fraction. Simple fractions can sound more harmonious than complex fractions; for instance an
octave is a simple 2:1 ratio and a fifth, also concordant is the relatively simple 3:2 ratio. The table
of below gives approximations of a scale to ratios that are rounded towards being as simple as
possible.

C D E F G A B C
1 9/8 5/4 4/3 3/2 5/3 15/8 2

In just intonation, a minor chord is often (but not exclusively) tuned in the frequency ratio 10:12:15
( play ). In 12-TET, or twelve-tone equal temperament (now the most common tuning system in
the West), a minor chord has 3 semitones between the root and third, 4 between the third and fifth,
and 7 between the root and fifth. It is represented by the integer notation 0,3,7. The 12-TET fifth
(700 cents) is only about two cents narrower than the just perfect fifth (3:2, 702.0 cents), but the
12-TET minor third (300 cents) is noticeably (about 16 cents) narrower than the just minor third
(6:5, 315.6 cents). The 12-TET minor third (300 cents) more closely approximates the 19-limit
(Limit (music)) minor third (19:16 Play , 297.5 cents, the nineteenth harmonic) with about two
cents error.[4] Ellis proposes that the conflict between mathematicians and physicists on one hand
and practicing musicians on the other regarding the supposed inferiority of the minor chord and
scale to the major may be explained due to physicists' comparison of just minor and major triads, in
which case minor comes out the loser, versus the musicians' comparison of the equal tempered
triads, in which case minor comes out the winner since the ET major third is about 14 cents sharp
from the just major third (5:4, 386.3 cents), but just about four cents narrower than the 19-limit
major third (24:19, 404.4 cents); while the ET minor third closely approximates the 19:16 minor

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third which many find pleasing.[5]

Advanced theory
In the German theory by or derived from Hugo
Riemann, the minor mode is considered the inverse
of the major mode, an upside down major scale
based on (theoretical) undertones rather than (actual)
overtones (harmonics) (See also: Utonality). The
"root" of the minor triad is thus considered the top of
the fifth, which, in the United States, is called "the"
fifth. So in C minor, the tonic root is actually G, and
the leading tone is A♭ (a halfstep), rather than, in Minor as upside down major
major, the root being C and the leading tone B (a
halfstep). Also, since all chords are analyzed as
having a tonic, subdominant, or dominant function,
with, for instance, in C, A-minor being considered
the tonic parallel (US relative), Tp, the use of minor
mode root chord progressions in major such as
A♭-major—B♭-major—C-major is analyzed as
sP—dP—T, the minor subdominant parallel, the
minor dominant parallel, and the major tonic.
(Gjerdingen, 1990) Major and minor triads: The minor mode is
considered the inverse of the major mode.
(file)

See also
Gypsy scale
List of major/minor compositions
Music written in all major and/or minor keys
Otonality and Utonality

Sources
1. Kamien, Roger (2008). Music: An Appreciation, 6th Brief Edition, p.46. ISBN 978-0-07-340134-8.
2. Craig Wright (September 18, 2008)."Listening to Music: Lecture 5 Transcript" (http://oyc.yale.edu
/music/listening-to-music/content/transcripts/transcript-5-melody-notes-scales-nuts-and-bolts), Open
Yale Courses.
3. Partch, Harry (2009). Genesis of a Music: An Account of a Creative Work, Its Roots, and Its
Fulfillments, p.89-90. ISBN 9780786751006.

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4. Alexander J. Ellis (translating Hermann Helmholtz): On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis
for the Theory of Music, page 455. Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1954.
5. Ellis (1954), p.298. In the 16th through 18th centuries, prior to 12-TET, the minor third in meantone
temperament was 310 cents Play and much rougher than the 300 cent ET minor third.

External links
"Proper fingering for piano scales" (http://www.audiblefaith.com/artists/rharrell/music
/pianoscales.html) [major and minor], Music Life.

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Categories: Intervals (music) Harmony Musical scales

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