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Week 5 · Lecture outline

Week 5 — Lecture Outline · Minor, Three Ways

Music Theory I · MUS 156 Fictional sample

Course: MUS 156 Music Theory I · Kenosis College
Instructor: Professor Hemsworth
Unit: Learning Unit 5 of 16 (Week 5) · two sessions per week
Objectives: SLO 2 (construct and identify all 15 major and 15 minor keys, signatures, and scales) · SLO 7 (translate what you hear into names and notation — the spine)
Sessions: session 1 — teach · session 2 — studio + solfège sing-down

You already hear this. We're going to name what you already know.

Sung in Aural Skills I: natural, harmonic, and melodic minor on do-based solfège — this morning's le vs la and te vs ti, sung back the same morning in MUS-155.

Week at a Glance

The table below summarizes the unit in one screen.
The unit's big question "Your ear files a song under major or minor by the second bar. What exactly changes on the page — and why does minor come in three forms?"
By the end of the unit, students can… (1) name the relative minor of any major key and the relative major of any minor key; (2) tell relative from parallel and never swap them; (3) spell all fifteen minor keys in natural, harmonic, and melodic form (both directions); (4) explain why the raised notes are accidentals in the music, never signature entries; (5) call every degree by name — tonic through submediant — and use subtonic vs leading tone correctly; (6) sing all three forms in do-based solfège (me le te, with ti and la ti for the raises).
Key vocabulary relative minor, relative major, parallel minor, natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor, minor key signature, tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, leading tone, subtonic, do-based minor solfège, enharmonic minor pairs
Materials Deck 5 · the Week 5 chapter · paper keyboard maps · scale-spelling sheets (the second session) · the piano · students' own instruments welcome in the studio
Timing note 8 segments ≈ 150 min. Session 1 = Segments 1–6 (75). Session 2 = Segments 7–8 (75: studio 55 + sing-down 20). Scale to your own pacing.

Segment 1 — Ear first: two homes, one ear (8 min) · Session 1 opens

Hook (no notation on screen yet). Play the opening of Joy to the World — bright, downhill, obvious. Then play Wayfaring Stranger. Ask only: "What changed?" The room will say darker, sadder, older, minor-ish. Nobody needed the page.

  • "You've been filing songs under major and minor your whole listening life. Today we open the minor drawer and find out it holds three things, not one."
  • The promise (say it, then put it on the board): "By the end of this week you can spell any minor key three ways, tell relative from parallel, and hear which form a tune is using before your pencil confirms it."
  • Frame the arc: units 1–7 are Foundations, the midterm in week 8 certifies the vocabulary — and after this week you own all thirty keys. Fifteen major from unit 4, fifteen minor today. That's a real milestone; say so.

Memory hook: "Minor isn't sad major. It's a different home with its own three ways of getting home."

Segment 2 — The relative minor: one signature, two homes (13 min)

Ear first. Play the C major scale, then walk the same white keys from A to A. Same notes; the room hears a different home. Name it: a minor, the relative minor of C major.

  • Every signature serves two keys: one major, one minor. Relatives share the signature and the seven notes; they differ in home base.
  • Two ways to find it, and they always agree: the relative minor is ^6 of the major scale, or three half steps down from the major tonic (landing on a new letter). C → A. G → e minor. E♭ → c minor.
  • Lowercase convention on the board: C major, c minor — capital for major, lowercase for minor, all term.
KEY: a minor    METER: free    CLEF: treble
| A3/w B3/w C4/w D4/w E4/w F4/w G4/w A4/w |

The a natural minor scale climbing one octave from A3 — the same white keys as C major, not one accidental, with A treated as home.

  • Interaction (2 min): call majors, class answers relatives on fingers-to-lips speed: D major? (b minor.) B♭? (g minor.) A? (f♯ minor.) Then reverse: relative major of d minor? (F.)

Misconception + cure:

  • ❌ "Relative and parallel minor are the same thing."
    ✅ Cure: two different relationships, two different jobs. Relatives share a signature, different homes (C major / a minor). Parallels share a home, different signatures (C major / c minor). Drill the F major pair aloud: relative = d minor (shares the flat), parallel = f minor (four flats of its own). If a student gives one when asked for the other, the answer isn't close — it's a different key.

Segment 3 — Parallel minor + the fifteen minor keys (11 min)

Plain language first. The parallel minor keeps the tonic and swaps the signature: C major vs c minor. Play a short I-chord vamp both ways — same bass note, different weather. That darkening move is all over the music they already play.

  • Compare C major and c minor degree by degree: exactly ^3, ^6, ^7 drop a half step (E→E♭, A→A♭, B→B♭). Those three lowered degrees are the minor sound.
  • Fifteen minor keys mirror the fifteen majors — every signature from seven flats to seven sharps has a minor tenant. To find any minor signature: find the relative major, read its signature (c♯ minor → E major → four sharps).
  • Three enharmonic minor pairs, same twins logic as unit 4: g♯/a♭, d♯/e♭, a♯/b♭. Same sound, different paper — g♯ minor carries five sharps, a♭ minor seven flats. Enharmonic ≠ equals, still.

Misconception + cure:

  • ❌ "Minor is just major played sadly — there's no system."
    ✅ Cure: minor is exactly as systematic as major: fifteen keys, signatures off the same circle, one spelling rule (every letter once). The feeling is a consequence of structure — three degrees sit lower. Structure first; the mood is physics, not vibes.

Segment 4 — Natural minor and the subtonic (11 min)

Plain language first. Spell a minor key straight from its signature, add nothing: the natural minor form. Pattern W–H–W–W–H–W–W.

KEY: d minor    METER: free    CLEF: treble
| D4/w E4/w F4/w G4/w A4/w Bb4/w C5/w D5/w |

The d natural minor scale, one octave up from D4 — the B♭ comes from the one-flat signature; nothing else is touched.

  • Degree names go on the board here, because the next two segments are unsayable without them: tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant — and ^7's name has a condition attached.
  • Point at the top of the d minor scale: C sits a whole step below D. Major's ^7 leans on the tonic from a half step below — that's a leading tone. Natural minor's ^7 doesn't lean; it's the subtonic. One degree number, two possible names, and the distance decides.
  • Interaction: play D–C–D (whole step below) then D–C♯–D (half step below); the class labels each aloud: subtonic / leading tone. Ears first, then the rule.

Misconception + cure:

  • ❌ "^7 is called the leading tone, period."
    ✅ Cure: only at a half step below the tonic. A whole step doesn't lead — natural minor's ^7 is the subtonic. In g minor: F♮ subtonic, F♯ leading tone. Two names, one address apart.

Segment 5 — Harmonic minor: raise the seventh (12 min)

Ear first. Play d natural minor up to C and stop. Then play it again with C♯–D at the top. The room hears the second version arrive. Name what they heard: the raised ^7, the harmonic minor form.

  • The recipe: raise ^7 one half step — and only ^7. The raise is written as an accidental in the music, every time; the key signature never changes. A d minor chart full of C♯s hasn't changed key; it's doing harmonic minor's job.
  • Flat-key spelling trap, on the board: raising an already-flat ^7 makes a natural — c minor's B♭ raises to B♮, never B♯. Sharp-key spelling flex: f♯ minor raises E to E♯; g♯ minor raises F♯ to F𝄪 (unit 1's double sharp, now employed). The raised note keeps its letter — always.
KEY: d minor    METER: free    CLEF: treble
| D4/w E4/w F4/w G4/w A4/w Bb4/w C#5/w D5/w |

The d harmonic minor scale — identical to natural minor except the seventh note, C♯5, raised by an accidental to lean on the tonic.

  • Name the cost: B♭ up to C♯ is three half steps in one scale-step stride — the dramatic gap they've heard in every movie villain cue. Sing through it as a room; feel the lurch. (The gap's proper interval name arrives in unit 6 — for now, three half steps, one stride.)

Misconception + cure:

  • ❌ "The raised 7 is an accidental mistake — the copyist forgot the signature."
    ✅ Cure: it's the design. The signature describes the key at rest; the raise is something the music does when it wants the pull home. A signature that baked it in would lie about every phrase that doesn't use it.

Segment 6 — Melodic minor, solfège, and the AI-critique moment (20 min) · Session 1 closes (~75)

Plain language first. Melodies like to walk; the harmonic stride is a lunge. So melodies smooth it: going up, raise ^6 and ^7; coming down, cancel both — the melodic minor form.

KEY: d minor    METER: free    CLEF: treble
| D4/w E4/w F4/w G4/w A4/w B4/w C#5/w D5/w | D5/w C5/w Bb4/w A4/w G4/w F4/w E4/w D4/w |

D melodic minor up and down: ascending with B♮ and C♯ (both raises in place), descending with C and B♭ — the signature restored, spelled exactly like natural minor.

  • Misconception + cure: ❌ "Melodic minor changes key on the way down." ✅ Cure: same key, same signature, same tonic the whole way. The raises serve the climb toward the tonic; a descending line has nothing to pull toward, so the accidentals simply stop being needed. Nothing modulated.
  • Do-based solfège, the whole unit in syllables (board table): natural do re me fa sol le te do · harmonic raises te → ti · melodic ascending le → la, te → ti · descending reverts te, le. Tonic is always do. Sing all three forms as a room on d minor — this exact ladder returns in Aural Skills I in Aural Skills.
  • The recipes, one line each (leave on the board): natural = the signature; harmonic = raise 7; melodic = raise 6+7 up, let go down.
  • AI-critique moment (3 min, live on the projector). Paste into a chatbot: "Spell the f♯ harmonic minor scale, ascending, one octave." Read the answer against the chapter's tables. The classic failures: it writes F for the raised ^7 instead of E♯ (breaking the every-letter-once rule), or it quietly swaps in enharmonic spellings. "Your tutorial before the studio has a scored step where you audit the AI against a vetted answer sheet — minor scales are where chatbots get overconfident."

Why this makes you a better musician

This week's payoff is threefold and immediate. You'll know whether a song sits in major or minor before anyone says so — which means you can predict the chord vocabulary before the chart hits the stand ("it's in e minor — expect D♯s at the cadences"). You'll pick the right accidentals when a melody climbs to the tonic: E♮–F♯ climbing home in g minor, F♯ alone at a cadence, F♮ for the folk-flavored stroll — a deliberate choice, correctly spelled, instead of a guess. And you can talk to a choir director about "the raised seventh" and mean it: which note, why it's outside the signature, what it pulls toward. The studio is all three skills at performance speed — one tune, three forms, ears first.

Callback + tease + hand-off.

  • Callback: "Every form today entered through your ears before its recipe — the darker third, the leaning seventh, the smoothed climb. That order never changes here."
  • Tease: "Next unit — Intervals I: we stop measuring scales and start measuring the space between any two notes. Your ear already ranks those distances; we'll name them."
  • Hand-off: read the chapter if you haven't; Tutorial 5 with your AI tutor is due before Week 5's second session — the studio builds on it; practice set, quiz, discussion, and the Five Keys, Three Ways assignment close the end of Week 5.

Segment 7 — Studio: "Three minors, one tune" (55 min) · Session 2

Run from the studio sheet (P-studio-week-05). Shape, for planning: major-vs-minor ear rounds → Wayfaring Stranger played three ways, students identify which form and which note moved → spelling rounds (d minor three ways, plus one flat-key and one sharp-key harmonic transfer) → solfège rows completed and sung. The studio is the payoff section enacted: hear the form, name the moved note, spell it. 20 points, graded in session; the async make-up path (full credit) is on the studio sheet.

Segment 8 — Solfège sing-down + week wrap (20 min) · Session 2 closes

The room sings all three forms on do-based solfège in two keys (d minor, then e minor), hands raised on every syllable that moved (la for raised ^6, ti for raised ^7). Then a 90-second lightning round: Professor Hemsworth plays a cadence approach; the class calls natural / harmonic / melodic on the count of three. Close with the milestone said plainly: all thirty keys are now yours — every signature on the circle now names two keys you can spell. End-of-week items: practice set, quiz, discussion, assignment.

Instructor FAQ — common stumbles

The table below lists predictable Week 5 questions and quick cures.

Student says / does Quick cure
"Is the relative minor of F major f minor?" That's the parallel. Relative = share the signature: F major's is d minor (both one flat). Parallel = share the tonic. Two relationships; make them say both aloud for F.
Writes the harmonic raise into the key signature. The signature spells natural minor, always. The raise rides in the music as an accidental, phrase by phrase. Show a d minor bar with C♯ written in — signature untouched.
Spells c harmonic minor with B♯. Raising B♭ a half step gives B♮ — the raise cancels the flat, it doesn't add a sharp. Walk it on the keyboard: B♭, up one key, B.
Spells the raised ^7 with a new letter (f♯ minor: "F" instead of E♯). Every letter once, eight notes tonic to tonic — the unit 4 rule never blinks. The ^7 of f♯ minor is E-something; raised, it's E♯ (the F key, white, real — unit 1 said so).
"So the melodic scale is in two keys?" One key, one signature, one tonic. Up needs the pull home, down doesn't. Sing it: le te going down feels settled, not foreign.
"Why is natural minor's 7th not a leading tone? It still goes to the tonic." Leading requires a half step. A whole step arrives; a half step leans. Play D–C–D then D–C♯–D and let their ears vote — subtonic strolls, leading tone pulls.
"Which minor form is THE minor scale?" All three are one key's toolkit, chosen phrase by phrase. Real tunes mix them — the second session's tune wears all three. "Which form" is a question about a passage, not about a key.
"g♯ minor or a♭ minor — who cares, same keys on the piano." Same sound, different spelling, different signatures (5♯ vs 7♭) — and the wrong choice wrecks every accidental downstream. Enharmonic means sounds-alike, never equals; that's been the rule since unit 1.

Scope flag

This outline stays inside Week 5's nine ledger concepts (relative minor, parallel minor, natural/harmonic/melodic forms, the fifteen minor keys with their three enharmonic pairs, scale-degree names, subtonic vs leading tone, do-based minor solfège), all built on unit 4's major-key map. The ^6–^7 gap in harmonic minor is described as "three half steps" only — its interval name belongs to unit 6. Modes are deliberately absent here; the chapter carries the one enrichment sidebar, unassessed by design. Chord-quality talk (why the harmonic form is named for harmony) is deferred to units 9–11.

~ Professor Hemsworth's edition · Kenosis College · built with thecoursemaker.com