Shameful - Minor Scales Options

[nicki_flute]

I really should know these, but I don't know my minor scales or relative minors to major keys. How can I learn them?

[Oddball]

Hehehe....put a circle of fifths on your wardrobe....lol

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

[Rainbow]

Relative minors are 3 semitones below the major............ (that sounds really confused but I know what I mean!)

I think it's just something that you need to keep going over.......

[andante_in_c]

Write them out with major and relative minor together, and learn them as if they're French vocabulary or a multiplication table. Once you've done that, you'll know them for good. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[sbhoa]

Always practice them in matching pairs.

[Boo Radley]

As rainbow says, just count 3 semitones down from the major key to get the relative minor which of course will have the same key signature. Eg. C Maj - B - Bb - A min.

Was that what you were asking or did I read the question wrong?

Boo (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

[nicki_flute]

Thankyou! I sometimes count wrongly, but I think the matching pairs is a good idea.

[Violinia]

I don't understand the question - what do you mean you don't understand them? You must have been playing them for exams since grade 2......????

You probably need to draw some scale ladders, where each rung is a semitone from the next rung (13 rungs in all if you include the top note).

Draw 4 ladders, one for major scales. one for harmonic minor scales, one for ascending melodic minor scales and one for descending melodic minor scales.

Then colour in the rung for the note you actually play.

So in the major scale you colour in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th and 13th rungs.. Look at the ladder as you play the scales, internalising the gaps between the rungs as you play.

For the harmonic ladder colour in the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 12th and 13th.

For the ascending melodic colour in the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th and 13th.

For the descending melodic colour in the 13th, 11th, 9th, 8th, 6th, 4th, 3rd and 1st.

When you play your chromatic scales, look at every rung.

You could put a gold outline around the arpeggio notes - major: 1st, 5th, 8th, 13th. Minor: 1st, 4th, 8th, 13th.

For 2-octave scales look at the 1st rung again instead of the 13th.

Try it, it really does help! I make them for some of my students and they usually have a 'ureka' moment as they realise all types of scales have the same series of intervals; scales are much easier after that, and there's the added plus that they don't forget them as soon as the exam is over. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Violinia

PS There's also a 'relative solfah' way you could do them, where you start the minor scales on the 10th rung (you'd have to make a longer ladder), but try it this way and see if it works for you.

[clari kath]

I really should know these, but I don't know my minor scales or relative minors to major keys. How can I learn them?

I don't think their is any easy way of learning them. I have just had to learn them all for my Grade 7 Clarinet which I did this morning and my music teacher suggested that I used scale cards to help with the practise. So I did . I li9sted all the major scales on an A4 sheet of paper , laminated them and cut them up and did the same with the harmonic minors but put a m after the key so I knew they were a minor and laminated them. For my melodic scales I did the same but on a different colour of paper so I could tell the difference. I also find helpful listing them with their shrps or flats on a piece of paper until I have them stuck in my head. I was driving round at work for weeks in the car telling myself that A minor had nothing in the key signiture but the harmonic had G sharp and the melodic went up in f and g Sharp and came down in nothing. Found at least this way they stuck in my brain and then I would try and list them at least once a day if I got the chance. Just remember that A minor has nothing in the key sig and work the rest out from their. Sharps go up in 5's and flats in 4's. hope this actually makes sense. It worked for me.

[pianostar]

Oh, I found that it's easier to learn my relatives (not my actual relatives like uncles and aunts as such..I mean my relative keys (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)) by playing them as scales in contrary motion. Look, if you have say....c major and a minor, play them with right hand starting on C, and left hand on A. Same with E minor and G major, D major and B minor, A major and F# minor, E major and C# minor and so on.

Also, remember that pairs will always remember the same. E.g. C and A are a pair. Same as C#major is the relative key of A# minor, and Cflat major is again parallel to Aflat minor. Hope this helps. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Violinia]

OK, just understood the question.

A solution: learn the geography of the piano keyboard and learn to visualise each note and its position, and whether it's a black or a white note.

All you have to do then is trace back from your major scale note to a minor third below it, and there's your relative minor. It's 3 semitones away in a downwards direction.

So if it's a C, you visualise the C there, with a white note directly to the left of it ((IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif), and black note just below that (Bb) and then you have the next white note - A. So your relative minor of C is A minor.

If it's an E, visualise the next semitone down - Eb, then D, then C#- and there's your relative minor.

I find it very quick and sort of musically expressive to do it this way, because you can sort of hear the notes in your head as you do it.

Try it - you may be surprised. Then before you know it you've learnt them all by heart in any case. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Violinia