There are three forms of the minor scale: natural, harmonic, and melodic. Let’s compare them to their parallel major scale, using the key of A as an example.

A Major Scale

A Natural Minor Scale

A Harmonic Minor Scale

 A Melodic Minor Scale

What differences do you observe among the three forms?

Parallel vs. Relative Key Pairs

Parallel keys have the same tonic but different key signatures.

• C major and C minor are parallel keys.
  • Both have C as tonic
  • Their key signatures differ: C major has 0 flats/sharps and C minor has three flats

Relative keys have different tonics but the same key signature.

• C major and A minor are relative keys.
  • They have different tonic pitches: C major begins with C, A minor begins with A
  • They have the same key signature: 0 flats/sharps
• To find the relative minor key of a major key, lower the tonic note by three half steps (e.g. D major to B minor, F major to D minor, etc.)

Harmonic Minor Scale

For the purposes of this course, we will use only the harmonic minor scale.

Recall playing the major scale in tetrachord format from Unit 3. This technique can be used for minor scales as well. Play the first four notes of the scale with 5-4-3-2 in the left hand; play the last four notes with 2-3-4-5 in the right hand. Label the intervals between each degree of the scale in the blanks below. Are they all whole steps and half steps?