Having a Musical Brain-Fart

I don't know either, because other than liking or disliking X music, I'm a complete imbecile about its structure. My son, however, this evening off with a friend, is a professional jazz pianist, and he'd know. He'd look at me as if I were a nematode if I asked him, but he'd probably tell me anyway. So, in case nobody has answered your question by morning, I'll ask.

caw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_and_minor

That should help.

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

NO. The direction of the keys has nothing, repeat nothing, to do with major and minor.

Major key have a major third, and minor keys have a minor third. Minor thirds are what children sing when they're going "nah, nah..."
Major thirds are a half step up.

Let me try again. A major third is the distance between C and E. A minor third is the distance between C and Eb. The keys are named for their starting note.

Hope that helps.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

mickeyDs4 said:

Ok better explaination of what I am trying to say. For a scene in my book, my character has written a piano piece that is very dark with low menacing sounding tones. She's titled the piece "Cheater in E Minor." Would that be an accurate description of the type of music being portrayed?

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Yes, that's fine.

Simply put, the key describes the subset of notes that are used for a particular song out of all the notes on the scale. The note you use to describe the key (E in your case) says on what note to begin selecting notes, and whether it's major or minor tells how many steps up the scale to take to get to the next note used in the key.

mickeyDs4 said:

Ok better explaination of what I am trying to say. For a scene in my book, my character has written a piano piece that is very dark with low menacing sounding tones. She's titled the piece "Cheater in E Minor." Would that be an accurate description of the type of music being portrayed?

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I see what you're asking. But whether the actual notes are low down on the piano is not the deciding factor in dark or menacing.

Certain keys are traditionally associated with certain moods. D Major, for example is a bright and lively key. Ab minor is supposed to be a bit gloomy. Whether key signatures really affect specific moods is a matter of conjecture, but many composers over the years have believed it to be the case. Certainly it's fine for a scene in a book.

Here's something that may be of help to you. Fun, anyway.

http://biteyourownelbow.com/keychar.htm

mickeyDs4 said:

It's been years since I took music theory and I think I have my keys backwards. Major keys are everything to the right of middle C and the minor keys are everything to the left of middle C or am I ass backwards?

Thanks a million!

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A semi-tone to the left of middle C is B. A major seventh to the right of middle C is the B which is an octave higher than the one which is a semi-tone to the left.

B, like every other note, can have a major or minor scale built on it. The minor scale has two varieties, harmonic and melodic. The melodic minor scale has two varieties, ascending and descending. In the ascending melodic minor the sixth and seventh are raised. In the example of a B minor ascending, the A is sharpened to create a leading note and the G is sharpened to avoid an augmented second between the natural G and the sharpened A. Both of these notes are left natural in the descending variety so that the G natural will be a semi-tone above the F sharp, thereby creating a pull towards the dominant note of the key which is F sharp. The A is natural (in the descending form), again, to avoid an augmented second.

Another thing to remember is that even within a major key there are minor chords and in a minor key, there are major chords.

Think of C major for example! The chord built on the D (supertonic) is minor because the C major has no sharps or flats, therefore the F which is a third above the D is natural and therefore you have a minor third in that chord. The E chord (mediant) is also minor. The subdominant (F) is major and the G (dominant) is major but the A (submediant) is minor and the leading note chord B has a minor third and a diminished fifth.

Dissonance is also very effective to create a menacing sound. We expect certain intervals (3rds, 5ths, 7ths, etc) and certain chord progressions. Throwing in a 2nd once in a while jars the listener and creates a subliminal anxiety until the chord resolves into one of the expected ones. It's often used in jazz.

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Yes, minor keys are usually considered sad or gloomy or sometimes foreboding. So your example is just fine.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Rufus Coppertop said:

Think of C major for example! The chord built on the D (supertonic) is minor because the C major has no sharps or flats, therefore the F which is a third above the D is natural and therefore you have a minor third in that chord. The E chord (mediant) is also minor. The subdominant (F) is major and the G (dominant) is major but the A (submediant) is minor and the leading note chord B has a minor third and a diminished fifth.

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Now explain tritone substitutions.

And what if you have an extended dominant seventh chord, that contains both a third and a flatted third, Like C, E, G, Bb, C, Eb? (A very common voicing in jazz and rock.)

rugcat said:

Now explain tritone substitutions.

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Useful in a cycle of fifths as a kind of shortcut so that the cycle of fifths doesn't end up going through the entire circle of fifths. Basically, you get to use every diatonic chord in a particular key without modulating.

So for example in A minor, you begin on an A chord, the tonic (i), then to D minor (iv), to G major (VII), to C major (III) to F major (VI) ....... so far the progression is perfect fifths ..... but wait! What happens if we move a perfect fifth from F, downwards? We end up on B flat which is alien to the key of A. So this is where we substitute a tritone in order to land on a B diminished (ii), then we go to an E major (V) and Bob's our uncle! We can close with a perfect cadence.

Some argue that the tritone here isn't really a tritone because it's a diminished fifth rather than an augmented fourth. Personally I think they're splitting hairs.

And what if you have an extended dominant seventh chord, that contains both a third and a flatted third, Like C, E, G, Bb, C, Eb? (A very common voicing in jazz and rock.)

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Holy fuck! That sounds really wild! Thank you!

I don't know what jazz and rock people do with that chord but approaching it from a more baroque angle you can resolve it to an F whilst leaving the Eb as a minor seventh in the F chord, turning the F into a dominant seventh which would no doubt resolve to a Bb.

Are there other uses that you know of?

Hahaha, you guys are totally geeking out on music theory here. She only asked an innocent question about major and minor keys.

BTW, I'm a composer, so all the shoptalk made me smile.

Geeks of any sort like nothing better than a good-natured wrangle with other geeks.