HOW TO TELL IF A SONG IS IN A MAJOR OR MINOR KEY

In the previous pages, we looked at key signatures and discovered that the same set of seven notes (and therefore key signatures) can either indicate a major or a minor key, depending on the context. Usually it is fairly easy to hear if something is in a minor key (it 'feels' or 'sounds' minor), but it can be a little harder to tell if you're looking at a printed score. 

There are a few tricks we can use to figure out whether a passage of music is major or minor. Firstly, the first and last chord of a song or a section is usually the 'tonic' chord - if either or both of these chords are minor, the song will probably be in a minor key, particularly if the last chord is proceded by it's dominant (V) chord eg G7 - Cm, or E7 - Am.

Secondly, if a song is in a minor key, there will usually be quite a few 'accidentals' in the score. This is because there are several different minor scales, that get used interchangeably with the Natural minor scale.

The most important of these are the HARMONIC and MELODIC minor scales. 

MINOR SCALES OVERVIEW

HARMONIC MINOR SCALES

The HARMONIC MINOR scale differs from the NATURAL MINOR scale by one note: in a Harmonic Minor the 7th degree of the scale (the leading note) is raised.

Compare the two different A minor scales below:

Although this is a very slight change, it can help create some very interesting music that often feels more 'exciting' than just using the melodic minor, and helps really lock the music into a minor tonality. This is partly because the new raised seventh changes the minor CHORD FAMILY and introduces some new chords (that aren't available to the regular 'church modes')

CHORD FAMILY OF HARMONIC MINOR

Compare the two chord families below:

A HARMONIC MINOR