G # Minor Or A Flat Min? Options

[stratlg]

Hello all! I'm designing a scale book and I'm wondering if there is a standard upon which music publishers rely as far as deciding which name a scale receives? Is it equally acceptable to name a scale G# Minor as it is A Flat Minor? It seems like an arbitrary decision, so I am just going to pick A Flat Minor... is this something I should be concerned with?

[Roseau]

I prefer to think about it as Ab because I tend not to think about relative majors/minors but instead think of the major scale and flatten the third (etc.) to turn it into a minor scale. I think this is because when I practised scales on the piano I used to play every possible scale starting on one particular note.

My oboe teacher says that this is a pianist's way of doing things and on a woodwind instrument fingering is more logical (and easier to remember) if you think major/relative minor and it should therefore be G# because it is the relative minor of B major. He is probably right if you are learning them from scratch but I still prefer my way.

[sbhoa]

I prefer to think about it as Ab because I tend not to think about relative majors/minors but instead think of the major scale and flatten the third (etc.) to turn it into a minor scale. I think this is because when I practised scales on the piano I used to play every possible scale starting on one particular note.

My oboe teacher says that this is a pianist's way of doing things and on a woodwind instrument fingering is more logical (and easier to remember) if you think major/relative minor and it should therefore be G# because it is the relative minor of B major. He is probably right if you are learning them from scratch but I still prefer my way.

I'm not sure about it being the pianists way..... or not until about grade 5 at least.
I encourage my students to practice scales in related pairs to cement the idea of the shared key signature.
I only practised by playing everything on a particular starting note when I knew the related keys inside out.

[Roseau]

I prefer to think about it as Ab because I tend not to think about relative majors/minors but instead think of the major scale and flatten the third (etc.) to turn it into a minor scale. I think this is because when I practised scales on the piano I used to play every possible scale starting on one particular note.

My oboe teacher says that this is a pianist's way of doing things and on a woodwind instrument fingering is more logical (and easier to remember) if you think major/relative minor and it should therefore be G# because it is the relative minor of B major. He is probably right if you are learning them from scratch but I still prefer my way.

I'm not sure about it being the pianists way..... or not until about grade 5 at least.
I encourage my students to practice scales in related pairs to cement the idea of the shared key signature.
I only practised by playing everything on a particular starting note when I knew the related keys inside out.

You're probably right. I don't really remember how I first learnt scales on the piano but presume I did so by related keys. I was thinking back to the time when I would happily play scales for an hour a day but this was preparing for grade 8.