I. Fundamentals
Minor Scales, Scale Degrees, and Key Signatures
Chelsey Hamm and Bryn Hughes
Key Takeaways
- A minor scale's third note is always a half step lower than the third note of the major scale with the same name.
- There are three variations on the minor scale: natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor.
- Each minor scale is an ordered collection of half and whole steps, as follows:
- Natural minor: W‑H‑W‑W‑H‑W‑W (ascending)
- Harmonic minor: W‑H‑W‑W‑H‑3Hs‑H (ascending)
- Melodic minor: W‑H‑W‑W‑W‑W‑H (ascending) and W‑W‑H‑W‑W‑H‑W (descending).
- While there are three minor scales, minor keys and minor key signatures are always identified as simply “minor” (“A minor,” “D minor,” etc.) and are based on the natural minor scale.
- Scale degrees in minor are the same as those in major. There are a few new solfège syllables in minor including me ([latex]\downarrow\hat3[/latex]), le ([latex]\downarrow\hat6[/latex]), and te ([latex]\downarrow\hat7[/latex]).
- Each note of a minor scale is also named with scale-degree names. These are largely the same in minor as they are in major, except for the subtonic (te or [latex]\downarrow\hat7[/latex]).
- Major and minor keys share two different relationships. The parallel relationship is when a major and minor key share a tonic note, while the relative relationship is when a major and minor key share a key signature.
- Each major key signature has a corresponding relative minor key signature whose tonic is three half steps below the relative major’s tonic. The orders of sharps and flats in major and minor key signatures are the same.
The Minor Scale
A minor scale's third note is always a half step lower than the third note of the major scale with the same name (e.g., B major and B minor). There are three different types of minor scales: natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor. These three types of minor scales should be thought of like flavors of ice cream; ice cream is still ice cream regardless of whether it is chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, etc. Likewise, a work is simply “minor” or “in minor”; musicians do not consider music to be “in” a specific type of minor scale (i.e., natural, harmonic, or melodic). In other words, while there are three minor scales, minor keys and minor key signatures are always identified as simply “minor” (“A minor,” “D minor,” etc.) and are based on the natural minor scale.
The three different types of minor scales are useful categories primarily for instrumental performers. Learning to play the different types of minor scales on instruments allows performers to become familiar with the minor patterns most commonly used in Western classical music. Just like major scales, minor scales are named for their first note (including the accidental, if any), which is also their last note.
Natural Minor
The natural minor form of the minor scale consists of an ordered collection of half and whole steps with the ascending succession W‑H‑W‑W‑H‑W‑W, as shown in
. Each wh