Music theory help?

[Secre]

I'm going for an award in singing. I can do the singing, that's not a problem. It's a church based award and I can do the church season, colours, music etc side, no problem. My problem is the theory.

 

I can look at a score of music and if you give the the first note I can sight read fairly well. Ask me to tell you what key signature it is and I struggle. I can however learn those by rote even if I will struggle!

 

My question is about minor and major keys. For every key signature there is a minor key and a major key that goes with it. If you played me them I could tell you which is which, but what is the difference in terms of theory? If they sound different they must have different notes...but if they have the same key signature then this makes no sense.

 

And I am thoroughly confused and chasing myself around in circles!!!

 

So yeah, if anyone with any musical knowledge can help me out I would be sooooo, sooo grateful as I will be massively embarrassed if I have to go to my choir mistress of 12 years and say that I have got no idea about this!

 

I do however warn you that there will probably be many more questions whenever I get stuck!

[IrishLiz]

Ask me any questions you want! I play violin (piano before that) and I got a music degree, so I had to take two years of music theory in college plus some composition classes, etc. It's funny; I had to do sightsinging and it was so hard, but the singers had a harder time with the scores and written theory.

 

There are different types of minor keys - there's a melodic minor and a harmonic minor; melodic is more common and probably what you are talking about, so that's what I'll describe here. If you think of a scale, a minor key always has the third note flat (for instance, in C minor, you would have an E flat). It always helps for me to picture a keyboard, because it's easier to see the steps that way. The sixth and seventh notes are flat as well in the key signature and when you descend in the scale, but they will be raised using a natural or sharp when the scale is ascending.

 

The reason that they can have the same signature is that they are different keys - they start on different notes (different scales). These are called relative keys. As an example, C major and A minor would have the same key signature, and A minor is the relative minor for the key of C:

 

scale: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

C minor: C D Eb F G Ab Bb key signature: 3 flats

C major: C D E F G A B key signature: nada

A minor: A B C D E F G key signature: nada

A major: A B C# D E F# G# key signature: 3 sharps

 

I hope this helps... sorry if it's too detailed!

[Rae]

I'm not going to re write what IrishLiz posted LOL but I learned a much simpler way in Music Theory last semester. I'm a music business student, so if you need any help and Liz isn't available feel free to ask me as well.

 

If you want I can send you my notes that I took last year. The way my teacher taught us made everything much, MUCH easier than what I had learned in high school.

 

Key Signatures have to do with the circle of 5ths. What he taught us is that if it's a Major, you basically go up one letter. So if it was D flat, in Major it would become C sharp... does that make sense? I'm reading my notes now, but I want to make sure that I'm actually answering your question and not confusing myself LOL.

 

When it's minor you go up a letter. So "a sharp" is "b flat." And by the looks of my notes the sharp and the flat switch... Ok. Now I'm confusing myself HAHA

[JessV]

to be brief, yes the key signatures are the same, you will have to identify the chords in the first measure(s) to figure out whether it is minor or major

[Secre]

Thanks - that has helped a lot!

 

IrishLiz - no it wasn't too much detail! I work far better with lots of detail and your description allowed me to picture what I was trying to figure out in my head. I don't know how I can sing it perfectly, can sight reaad pretty complicated music in both soprano and alto, and can (most of the time) pitch a note perfectly...but I find the theory really difficult! It took me ages to learn what the rest sign times meant, although that was largely because I knew it meant break and therefore watched my choir mistress for when I was meant to come back in!

 

Rae - thanks, yes your course notes would be massively helpful! The way of remembering the change between major and minor will be amazingly useful.

 

I struggle to help the younger kids with their theory...so I am soooooooo scuppered with this!!!

[IrishLiz]

Rae - you're naming notes that are the same. D flat and C sharp are the same note (on a keyboard anyway - I won't get into different tuning systems). That's not really related to major vs. minor. The circle of fifths helps you with key signature order - you go up a fifth when you're adding a sharp to the key signature and down when you're adding a flat.

 

Secre - A major key and it's relative minor key have a relationship of a minor third. Using the above, A minor's relative major is C major (A and C are a minor third). So, C minor's relative key is Eb major, etc.

 

Glad to help! Good luck on the award!!