majority

Examples of majority in the following topics:

• Music in a Minor Key

  • Each major key uses a different set of notes (its major scale).
  • In each major scale, however, the notes are arranged in the same major scale pattern and build the same types of chords that have the same relationships with each other.
  • (See Beginning Harmonic Analysis for more on this. ) So music that is in, for example, C major, will not sound significantly different from music that is in, say, D major.
  • So you can't, for example, transpose a piece from C major to D minor (or even to C minor) without changing it a great deal.
  • To hear some simple examples in both major and minor keys, see Major Keys and Scales.

• Relative Minor and Major Keys

  • Each minor key shares a key signature with a major key.
  • It is easy to predict where the relative minor of a major key can be found.
  • (If the patterns were very different, minor key signatures would not be the same as major key signatures. ) The pattern for the minor scale starts a half step plus a whole step lower than the major scale pattern, so a relative minor is always three half steps lower than its relative major.
  • What are the relative majors of the minor keys in Figure 4.23?
  • C minor is the relative minor of E flat major.

• Sociology Majors

  • Thus, there is no particular "personality type" among sociology majors.
  • The average graduating sociology major is a young female (early 20s) who is white and single.
  • Less than half of the parents of sociology majors have baccalaureate degrees of their own.
  • Many sociology majors choose the major because they found their first exposure to the discipline engaging (usually through an introductory course).
  • Only 7% of sociology majors choose the discipline because it appears easy, and relatively few (5%) choose it because the major they wanted was unavailable.

• Naming Chords Within a Key

  • The following chord progression is in the key of G major.

• Major and Minor Chords

  • Listen to a G major chord in three different positions (http://cnx.org/content/m10890/latest/Inversions.MID).
  • The most commonly used triads form major chords and minor chords.
  • All major chords and minor chords have an interval of a perfect fifth between the root and the fifth of the chord.
  • A perfect fifth (7 half-steps) can be divided into a major third (4 half-steps) plus a minor third (3 half-steps).
  • If the interval between the root and the third of the chord is the major third (with the minor third between the third and the fifth of the chord), the triad is a major chord.

• Music in Different Keys

  • Since the major scales all follow the same pattern, they all sound very much alike.
  • Here is the tune "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", written in G major and also in D major.
  • Listen to this tune in G major (http://cnx.org/content/m10851/latest/RowBoatG.mid) and in D major (http://cnx.org/content/m10851/latest/RowBoatD.mid).
  • Before equal temperament became the standard tuning system, major keys sounded more different from each other than they do now.
  • The same tune looks very different when written in two different major keys.

• Solutions to Chapter 4 Exercises

  • Notice that although they look completely different, the scales of F sharp major and G flat major (numbers 5 and 6) sound exactly the same when played, on a piano as shown in Figure 4.21, or on any other instrument using equal temperament tuning.
  • Using this figure of a keyboard, or the fingerings from your own instrument, notice that the notes for the F sharp major scale and the G flat major scale in Figure 4.20, although spelled differently, will sound the same.

• Related Keys

  • The next most closely related keys to C major would be G major (or E minor), with one sharp, and F major (or D minor), with only one flat.
  • The key of D major has two sharps.
  • Using the circle of fifths, we find that the most closely related major keys (one in each direction) are G major, with only one sharp, and A major, with three sharps.
  • What are the keys most closely related to E flat major?
  • In theory, one could continue around the circle adding flats or sharps (so that B major is also C flat major, with seven flats, E major is also F flat major, with 6 flats and a double flat, and so on), but in practice such key signatures are very rare.

• Basic Triads in Major Keys

  • Write and name the chords in G major and in B flat major.
  • Capital Roman numerals are used for major chords and small Roman numerals for minor chords.
  • Because major scales always follow the same pattern, the pattern of major and minor chords is also the same in any major key.
  • Note: Notice that IV in the key of B flat is an E flat major chord, not an E major chord, and vii in the key of G is F sharp diminished, not F diminished.
  • Chords in the keys of C major and D major

• Introduction to Major Keys and Scales

  • In major keys, the notes of the scale are often used to build "bright"-sounding major chords.
  • The "bright"-sounding major chords and the strong feeling of tonality are what give major keys their happy, pleasant moods.
  • In fact, most musicians, and even many non-musicians, can distinguish major and minor keys just by listening to the music.
  • Three are in a major key and two in a minor key.
  • Note: If you must determine whether a piece of music is major or minor, and cannot tell just by listening, you may have to do some simple harmonic analysis in order to decide.