A minor

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A minor
Image:Do_Mayor_armadura.png
Relative key C major
Parallel key A major
Enharmonic
Component pitches
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A

A minor (abbreviated Am) is a minor scale based on A, consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The harmonic minor scale raises the G to G♯. Its key signature has no flats or sharps (see below: Scales and keys).

Its relative key is C major, and its parallel major is A major.

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary.

Johann Joachim Quantz considered A minor, along with C minor, much more suitable for expressing "the sad effect" than other minor keys (Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen).

Whereas traditionally key signatures were cancelled whenever the new key signature had fewer sharps or flats than the old key signature, in modern popular and commercial music, cancellation is only done when C major or A minor replaces another key.[1]

Contents

[edit] Well-known classical compositions in this key

See also: List of symphonies in A minor

[edit] Well-known contemporary music in this key

[edit] References

  1. ^ Matthew Nicholl & Richard Grudzinski, Music Notation: Preparing Scores and Parts, ed. Jonathan Feist. Boston: Berklee Press (2007): 56. "In popular and commercial music, the old key signature is cancelled only if the new key is C major or A minor."

[edit] Scales and keys

v • d • e
Diatonic Scales and Keys
Circle of fifths
flats sharps
major minor major minor
0 C, a
1 F d G e
2 B♭ g D b
3 E♭ c A f♯
4 A♭ f E c♯
5 D♭ b♭ B g♯
6 G♭ e♭ F♯ d♯
7 C♭ a♭ C♯ a♯
lower case letters are minor
the table indicates the number of sharps or flats in each scale