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The problem it solves
The major mode is not the only possible tonal centre. To read, hear and build music in minor you need its own reference scale, with its pattern of distances and its characteristic colour.
Detailed theory
Key idea
The natural minor scale has the pattern T-S-T-T-S-T-T, with the semitones between degrees 2-3 and 5-6.
It is the same material as its relative major started from the 6th degree (the Aeolian mode): A natural minor = white keys from A to A.
Understand it
The natural minor scale is defined, like the major, by the succession of distances between its notes: tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone (T-S-T-T-S-T-T). The two semitones do not fall where they do in the major, but between the 2nd and 3rd degree and between the 5th and 6th. This different placement of the semitones is what gives the scale its own colour.
The clearest way to see it is A natural minor: A B C D E F G A, only white keys. They are exactly the same notes as C major, but starting and ending on A. That is why the natural minor is said to be its relative major starting from the 6th degree, a sonority also known as the Aeolian mode.
Versus the parallel major (the major version on the same tonic), the natural minor has the 3rd, 6th and 7th degree lowered a semitone. The lowered third is what makes it sound minor, and the lowered 7th has an important consequence: it sits a whole tone from the tonic, so it is a subtonic and not a strong leading tone as in the major.
Think of the natural minor as the same room as its relative major, but seen from another door: the furniture (the notes) is identical, but since you enter through A instead of C, the light is dimmer and the tone more inward. You do not need to call it "sad": it is simply a darker, more inward colour.
This weak seventh degree is the reason why, later, the harmonic minor and the melodic minor raise the 7th to recover a leading tone that pushes toward the tonic; here, though, just keep in mind that the natural minor leaves this degree unraised (a brief note, beyond the scope of this concept).
Staff & keyboard
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The two semitones of the natural minor pattern in A: B-C (degrees 2-3) and E-F (degrees 5-6). The rest of the steps are tones.
How to recognise it
How it's written
Read the natural minor scale as a sequence of steps and check where the two semitones fall: between degrees 2-3 and 5-6. In A minor it shows at once on the keyboard because they are the white keys from A to A, with the natural semitones B-C (2-3) and E-F (5-6).
How it feels
Play or sing the scale from A to A letting the music rest on A: you will notice a darker, more inward colour than the major, and that the seventh degree (G) does not push toward the tonic as a leading tone would, but approaches it in a more relaxed way.
Common mistake
Thinking the natural minor has a leading tone: its 7th degree sits a whole tone from the tonic (it is a subtonic), not a semitone.
Placing the semitones as in the major (3-4 and 7-8): in the natural minor they fall between degrees 2-3 and 5-6.
Try it
On the keyboard, play the white keys from A to A (A B C D E F G A) letting the music rest on A and notice the semitones B-C and E-F.
Compare it with C major (the same keys from C to C): the material is identical, but the centre and the colour change.
On the instrument
Staff & keyboard
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The A natural minor scale: A B C D E F G A, only white keys. The tonic A opens and closes the scale.
Interval distance
B-C: the semitone between the 2nd and 3rd degree, one of the two narrow steps of the natural minor pattern.
Interval distance
E-F: the semitone between the 5th and 6th degree, the other narrow step of the natural minor pattern.
Where it's used
- Building the minor mode
- Applying the pattern T-S-T-T-S-T-T from any tonic to form a natural minor scale.
- Reading music in minor
- Recognising the semitones on degrees 2-3 and 5-6 to orient yourself within a minor key.
- Relating it to the relative major
- Understanding that the natural minor is the relative major started from the 6th degree (Aeolian mode).
Examples
Staff & keyboard
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The whole A natural minor scale, resting on the tonic A: hear the darker, more inward colour of the minor mode.
Exercises
Dictation in A natural minor
A short melodic dictation in A natural minor: the key signature has no accidentals, like its relative major C.
Complete 6 attempts · 70% accuracy to pass
Dictation in E natural minor
A melodic dictation in E natural minor: the key signature of its relative major G carries 1 sharp (F#).
Complete 8 attempts · 70% accuracy to pass
Dictation in D natural minor
A melodic dictation in D natural minor: the key signature of its relative major F carries 1 flat (Bb).
Complete 8 attempts · 70% accuracy to pass
Dictation in B natural minor
A melodic dictation in B natural minor: the key signature of its relative major D carries 2 sharps (F# and C#).
Complete 10 attempts · 70% accuracy to pass
Mini test
Check that you've got it.
0/7 answeredQuestion 1/7
What is the tone-and-semitone pattern of the natural minor scale?