Week 5 — Chapter · Minor, Three Ways

Course: MUS 156 Music Theory I · Kenosis College
Instructor: Professor Hemsworth
Unit: Learning Unit 5 of 16 (Week 5) · two sessions per week
The unit's primary reading · ~35–45 minutes · SLOs 2 and 7 · Read this before the first session if you can, or right after — everything else in the module builds on it.

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You already hear minor

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

Here's the proof for this unit. Hum Joy to the World — the Christmas one, the descending scale. Now hum Wayfaring Stranger, or Greensleeves. Something changed, and you heard it change before you had a single word for it. Musicians reach for words like darker, moodier, older. The word this course gives you is minor, and here's the claim the whole unit rests on: minor is not "sad major." It's a different home with its own floor plan — and with three ways of arranging the furniture, each built to solve a real musical problem.

By the end of this chapter you will be able to: name the relative minor of any major key; tell a relative relationship from a parallel one and never confuse them again; spell any minor scale in its natural, harmonic, and melodic forms, in all fifteen minor keys; explain why the harmonic form's raised note is written in the music, never in the key signature; call every scale degree by its name — tonic through submediant — and know when the seventh degree is a leading tone and when it's a subtonic; and sing all three forms in do-based solfège, including the syllables that move: le to la, te to ti.

None of this is new sound. Your ear has lived in minor keys since the first minor song you loved. This unit is the naming trip.

Where we are

Unit 4 built the major-key map: the whole/half-step pattern, all fifteen major scales and signatures, the circle of fifths, and scale degrees ^1–^7 with movable-do solfège. This unit stands on that map. Minor doesn't replace it — minor shares it, and that sharing is where we start.

One signature, two homes: the relative minor

Take the C major scale — no sharps, no flats. Now play the same seven white keys, but start and stop on A, and treat A as home. Same notes, same signature, completely different feeling. You've just played a minor, and discovered the unit's first big idea:

Every key signature serves two keys: one major, one minor. They're called relatives — the relative minor of a major key, the relative major of a minor key. Same signature, same seven notes, different home base.

KEY: a minor    METER: free    CLEF: treble
| A3/w B3/w C4/w D4/w E4/w F4/w G4/w A4/w |

In plain English: the a natural minor scale climbing one octave on the treble staff — A3 to A4, not one accidental anywhere, because a minor's signature is the same as C major's: empty. The only thing that changed is which note the music treats as home.

How to find the relative minor, two ways (they always agree):

• Count up to ^6. The relative minor lives on the sixth degree of the major scale. In C major: C D E F G A — a minor.
• Count down three half steps from the major tonic, landing on a different letter. C down three half steps: B, B♭, A.

Run it anywhere: G major's ^6 is E — relative e minor, both one sharp. Here is the full family, straight from the course reference tables:

The table below pairs every major key with its relative minor and their shared signature.

Major	Relative minor	Shared signature
C	a	none
G	e	F♯
D	b	F♯ C♯
A	f♯	F♯ C♯ G♯
E	c♯	F♯ C♯ G♯ D♯
B	g♯	F♯ C♯ G♯ D♯ A♯
F♯	d♯	F♯ C♯ G♯ D♯ A♯ E♯
C♯	a♯	F♯ C♯ G♯ D♯ A♯ E♯ B♯
F	d	B♭
B♭	g	B♭ E♭
E♭	c	B♭ E♭ A♭
A♭	f	B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭
D♭	b♭	B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭
G♭	e♭	B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ C♭
C♭	a♭	B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ C♭ F♭

(Notice the lowercase convention: this course writes major keys capitalized and minor keys lowercase — C major, c minor. Charts and theory texts tell them apart this way at a glance, and the quiz writes them this way too.)

Fifteen minor keys, and three come in enharmonic twin pairs, exactly like the major twins of unit 4: g♯/a♭, d♯/e♭, and a♯/b♭ minor. Same sound, different spelling on paper — g♯ minor carries five sharps while a♭ minor carries seven flats. Enharmonic means "sounds alike," never "equals"; that rule hasn't blinked since unit 1.

Same tonic, different color: the parallel minor

There's a second relationship, and confusing it with the first is this unit's most common error, so here's the line in ink:

C major and a minor share a signature but have different homes — relatives.
C major and c minor share a home but have different signatures — parallels.

The parallel minor keeps the tonic and changes the scenery: c minor is the parallel minor of C major, and its signature is three flats. Play a C major chart, then the same chart in c minor: same root, same bass note, whole different weather. When a songwriter "goes minor" on the same chord letter — a move your ear knows from a thousand bridges — that's parallel thinking.

Both relationships earn their keep. Relative thinking answers "what does this signature allow?" — one signature, two possible homes, your ear decides which the song is using. Parallel thinking answers "what changes if we darken this key?" — compare C major to c minor degree by degree and exactly three notes drop a half step: ^3, ^6, ^7 (E→E♭, A→A♭, B→B♭). Those three lowered degrees are the sound of minor. The rest of this unit is what happens to two of them — ^6 and ^7 — under pressure.

Misconception check. "Relative minor, parallel minor — same idea, right?" No. Relatives share DNA (the signature) but live in different houses (different tonics). Parallels live at one address (one tonic) with different DNA (different signatures). F major's relative minor is d minor (both one flat); its parallel minor is f minor (four flats). If a question asks for one and you give the other, your answer isn't close — it's a different key.

The natural minor scale: what the signature gives you

Spell a minor scale using only its key signature — nothing added — and you get the natural minor form: the floor plan as built. Here it is in d minor, whose signature is one flat:

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

In plain English: the d natural minor scale climbing one octave — D4, E4, F4, G4, A4, B♭4, C5, D5. The B♭ comes straight from the signature; no other accidental appears.

Two facts to hold:

• The step pattern is W–H–W–W–H–W–W. Compare major's W–W–H–W–W–W–H: the half steps moved, and that relocation is the difference your ear hears. The spelling rule from unit 4 never changes: eight notes tonic to tonic, every letter used exactly once.
• Look at the top of the scale. In d natural minor the seventh note is C — a whole step below the tonic D. Remember how major's ^7 sits a half step under the tonic and leans on it? Natural minor's ^7 doesn't lean; it strolls. That relaxed seventh has its own name — subtonic — and fixing its stroll is precisely why minor comes in three forms.

Harmonic minor: raising the seventh

Play d natural minor and stop on C. Now sing the tonic D. Feel how optional that last move was? Composers felt it too — at the very moment a phrase closes on the tonic, natural minor's ^7 doesn't pull anywhere. The fix is surgical: raise ^7 by one half step, and only ^7. In d minor, C becomes C♯, and the seventh degree suddenly leans on home the way major's does. That single-note renovation is the harmonic minor form:

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

In plain English: d harmonic minor, one octave up — D4, E4, F4, G4, A4, B♭4, C♯5, D5. Identical to natural minor except the seventh note, raised a half step to pull at the tonic.

Now the detail that separates people who read charts from people who guess at them: that C♯ is written in the music as an accidental, every time it occurs. It is never added to the key signature. The signature of d minor stays one flat, forever. A d minor chart sprinkled with C♯s isn't wrong and hasn't changed key — that's harmonic (or melodic) minor doing its job. The signature tells you natural; the music tells you the rest.

Watch the spelling in flat keys, because this is where chatbots and tired copyists both crash: raising a ^7 that's already flat produces a natural, not a sharp. C minor's natural ^7 is B♭; harmonic minor raises it to B♮ — plain B, not B♯. In the sharp-heavy keys the raise can look exotic and still be exactly right: f♯ harmonic minor raises E to E♯, and g♯ harmonic minor raises F♯ to F𝄪 — the double sharp from unit 1, now earning its keep. One spelling rule is absolute: the raised ^7 keeps its letter. C♯, not D♭; E♯, not F. Eight notes, every letter once.

Misconception check. "All those C♯s in a d minor piece look like mistakes — shouldn't the signature handle them?" The raised seventh is a design choice, not a typo, and keeping it out of the signature is a design choice too: the signature describes the key's resting state, and the raise is something the music does, phrase by phrase, when it wants the pull home. A signature that included the raise would lie about every passage that doesn't use it.

One cost ships with this renovation. Look at the gap between harmonic minor's ^6 and ^7 — B♭ up to C♯ in d minor. That's three half steps in a single scale-step stride, the widest gap in any scale you've met, with an unmistakably dramatic sound. Sometimes that's exactly what the music wants. But try singing through it smoothly and you'll feel the problem the third form was invented to solve. (The gap earns its proper name in unit 6. For now: three half steps, one stride.)

Melodic minor: smoothing the climb

Melodies like to walk, and the harmonic form's ^6-to-^7 stride is a lunge. When a line needs to climb from ^6 through ^7 to the tonic, composers smooth the staircase: going up, raise both ^6 and ^7. Coming down, cancel both and let the signature speak. That two-way arrangement is 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 |

In plain English: d melodic minor, up and then down. Ascending — D4, E4, F4, G4, A4, B♮4, C♯5, D5: both ^6 and ^7 raised, no lunge in the climb. Descending — D5, C5, B♭4, A4, G4, F4, E4, D4: the raises gone, spelled exactly like natural minor coming down.

Why raise ^6 as well? Because raising only ^7 is what created the three-half-step gap; lift ^6 with it and the staircase is even the whole way up. And why let go on the descent? The raises exist to sharpen the pull toward the tonic — a line walking away from the tonic has nothing to pull toward. No pull needed, no raise needed; the scale relaxes back into its signature.

Misconception check. "So melodic minor changes key on the way down?" It never leaves. Up and down are the same key, same signature, same tonic — d minor the entire time. The ascending raises are accidentals serving one melodic purpose (the climb home), and when that purpose disappears, so do they. If a bandmate tells you the descending half is "in a different key," you now own the two-sentence correction.

Worked example in a flat key, so you see the natural-sign behavior: c melodic minor. Natural form: C D E♭ F G A♭ B♭ C. Ascending: C D E♭ F G A♮ B♮ C — two naturals, because the signature's A♭ and B♭ are being lifted. Descending: C B♭ A♭ G F E♭ D C — the signature restored. And one in a sharp key: b melodic minor ascends B C♯ D E F♯ G♯ A♯ B and descends B A G F♯ E D C♯ B.

The recipes, one sentence each:

• Natural: exactly what the key signature says.
• Harmonic: raise ^7 one half step, as an accidental, both directions.
• Melodic: raise ^6 and ^7 going up; restore the signature coming down.

Real melodies mix these freely — harmonic at the cadences, melodic in the runs, four bars apart. The three forms aren't three keys; they're three tools one minor key keeps in the same drawer. Analyzing a passage means naming which tool is in the composer's hand right there, by reading which accidentals appear.

Names for the seven degrees

You've called scale degrees by number since unit 4 — ^1 through ^7. Musicians also call them by name, and this unit makes the names official, because two of its ideas can't even be said without them:

The table below names each scale degree.

Degree	Name
^1	tonic — home; the key's namesake
^2	supertonic — the step just above the tonic
^3	mediant — midway between tonic and dominant
^4	subdominant — the dominant's mirror, below the tonic
^5	dominant — the tonic's strongest gravity partner
^6	submediant — midway between tonic and subdominant, counting down
^7	leading tone — when it sits a half step below the tonic

And there's the asterisk that earns ^7 two names. A seventh degree is only called a leading tone when it sits a half step below the tonic — close enough to lean, to pull, to lead. Major's ^7 qualifies; so does the raised ^7 of harmonic and ascending melodic minor. But natural minor's ^7 sits a whole step below the tonic, and a whole step doesn't lead — that note is the subtonic. In g minor: F♮ is the subtonic; F♯, the harmonic-form raise, is the leading tone. Same degree number, two jobs, two names. When a choir director says "lean on that leading tone," they mean the raised note and its pull; nobody has ever asked a section to lean on a subtonic.

Singing minor: do-based solfège

Unit 4 gave you movable do for major: do re mi fa sol la ti do. This course sings minor do-based: the tonic is always do. Minor's three lowered degrees get their own syllables — ^3, ^6, ^7 become me, le, te (may, lay, tay) — and the raised degrees take back the major syllables:

The table below gives the solfège for each form.

Form	Syllables
Major (unit 4)	do re mi fa sol la ti do
Natural minor	do re me fa sol le te do
Harmonic minor	do re me fa sol le ti do
Melodic minor, ascending	do re me fa sol la ti do
Melodic minor, descending	do te le sol fa me re do

This is the whole unit in syllable form: harmonic minor is natural minor with te raised to ti — the leading tone getting its pull back. Ascending melodic raises le to la and te to ti — the smoothed climb. The descent reverts to te and le — the signature speaking again. When you sing these in Aural Skills I, the syllable that moves is the note that moves; your mouth learns the theory before your pencil does.

For the curious: the modes you already live in. Minor and major aren't the only ways to arrange seven notes around a home base — there's a whole family of modes, and ear players usually know two without the names. Dorian is the natural-minor sound with a raised ^6 — the brighter, cooler minor of a lot of rock, gospel-tinged jams, and Scarborough Fair. Mixolydian is the major sound with a lowered ^7 — countless rock and worship grooves that never quite use the leading tone. If you've ever vamped between two chords and felt "minor, but sunnier" or "major, but looser," you've been living there. Modes aren't tested anywhere in this course — this box is a name-tag for sounds you already own, and unit 15 winks at them once more when we talk charts.

Why this makes you a better musician

Three working skills, usable this month.

First: you'll know whether a song sits in major or minor before anyone says so. Someone counts off a tune, and by the second bar your ear has filed it — now you can say it, which means you can guess the chord vocabulary before the chart hits the stand. "It's in e minor — expect D♯s at the cadences" saves a rehearsal ten minutes of fishing.

Second: you'll pick the right accidentals when a melody climbs to the tonic. Writing a bass run or a vocal line in g minor that walks up to G? Now you know the decision you're making: E♮–F♯ if the line is climbing home (melodic thinking), F♯ alone at the cadence (harmonic thinking), F♮ for the older, folk-flavored stroll (natural). That choice was always in the songs you play; now it's yours on purpose, spelled with every letter used once.

Third: you can talk to a choir director — or any trained musician — about "the raised seventh" and mean it. When the director says the altos are flatting the leading tone, you'll know exactly which note, why it lives outside the key signature, and what it's pulling toward. That's the difference between nodding along and being the person the section turns to. The studio is this skill at performance speed: one tune, three forms, your ears calling which is which before your pencil confirms it.

Key terms

• Relative minor / relative major — keys sharing one signature; the relative minor sits on ^6 of the major scale (three half steps below the major tonic).
• Parallel minor / parallel major — keys sharing one tonic but carrying different signatures (C major / c minor).
• Natural minor — the minor scale exactly as the signature spells it; pattern W–H–W–W–H–W–W.
• Harmonic minor — natural minor with ^7 raised one half step (an accidental, never in the signature), creating a leading tone.
• Melodic minor — raises ^6 and ^7 ascending; restores the natural form descending.
• Minor key signature — identical to the relative major's; it always spells the natural form.
• Enharmonic minor pairs — g♯/a♭, d♯/e♭, a♯/b♭: sound alike, spelled differently.
• Tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant — the names of ^1–^6.
• Leading tone — ^7 when it sits a half step below the tonic and pulls toward it.
• Subtonic — ^7 when it sits a whole step below the tonic (natural minor's seventh).
• Do-based minor solfège — movable do with the tonic always do; minor sings me, le, te for ^3, ^6, ^7, with ti (harmonic) and la ti (ascending melodic) for the raised degrees.

Summary

• Every signature serves two keys: a major and its relative minor, found on ^6 of the major scale. Parallel keys share a tonic instead. Relatives share DNA, parallels share an address — never the same relationship.
• Fifteen minor keys mirror the fifteen majors, including three enharmonic pairs: g♯/a♭, d♯/e♭, a♯/b♭. Same sound, different spelling — enharmonic never means equal.
• Natural minor is the signature's own scale (W–H–W–W–H–W–W); its seventh, a whole step under the tonic, is the subtonic.
• Harmonic minor raises ^7 one half step — an accidental in the music, never in the signature — turning subtonic into leading tone. In flat keys the raise appears as a natural sign; the raised note keeps its letter.
• Melodic minor raises ^6 and ^7 going up and reverts to natural coming down. Nothing changes key; the accidentals simply stop being needed.
• Degree names: tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant — and, only at a half step below the tonic, leading tone.
• Do-based minor solfège: do re me fa sol le te do; harmonic sings ti; ascending melodic sings la ti; the descent reverts to te le. The tonic is always do.

Check your understanding

Work these before peeking — they're ungraded, and worked answers follow at the bottom of the page.

1. F major has one flat. Name its relative minor and its parallel minor, and say which one shares F major's signature.
2. Spell e harmonic minor, one octave ascending. Which note carries the accidental, and what is that raised note's degree-name?
3. Spell b melodic minor, ascending and then descending.
4. In g natural minor, the seventh note is F. Why isn't F called a leading tone — and what note is g minor's leading tone when the music wants one?
5. A chatbot tells you: "g♯ minor and a♭ minor are the same key, so just use whichever spelling is easier." What's right and what's wrong in that sentence?

Answers (worked reasoning — read after attempting)

1. The relative minor sits on ^6 of F major (F G A B♭ C D): d minor, the one that shares the one-flat signature. The parallel minor keeps the tonic: f minor, with its own four-flat signature (B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭). Two different keys, two different jobs.
2. E F♯ G A B C D♯ E. The accidental is D♯, raised from the D♮ the one-sharp signature provides. A half step below the tonic, it's the leading tone — the entire purpose of the harmonic form. (The D♯ is written in the music each time; e minor's signature stays one sharp.)
3. Ascending: B C♯ D E F♯ G♯ A♯ B — ^6 and ^7 raised for the climb. Descending: B A G F♯ E D C♯ B — the raises canceled, spelled exactly like b natural minor. Same key the whole way; only the climbing gear came off.
4. Because F sits a whole step below G, and a leading tone must sit a half step below the tonic to lead. Natural minor's whole-step seventh is the subtonic. When g minor wants a leading tone, the harmonic and ascending-melodic forms raise F to F♯ — an accidental, never added to the two-flat signature.
5. Right: the two keys sound identical. Wrong: they are not the same key on paper. G♯ minor carries five sharps; a♭ minor carries seven flats; every note in the pair spells differently, and which is correct depends on the musical neighborhood (unit 4's circle logic — a chart living among sharp keys wants g♯ minor). Enharmonic means "sounds alike," never "equals" — the rule that has held since unit 1 holds for whole keys too.

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Next in this module: the Readings & Resources page for other angles on minor, then Tutorial 5 — your AI tutor session, due before Week 5's second session so the studio can build on it.

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