A minor
tonality
A minor (usually shortened to Am) is a minor scale based on A, which is made up of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. The harmonic minor scale raises the G to G♯. Its key signature has no sharps or flats.
| ||
| Relative key | C major | |
|---|---|---|
| Parallel key | A major | |
| Dominant key | ||
| Subdominant | ||
| Notes in this scale | ||
| A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A | ||
Its relative major is C major, and its parallel major is A major. A scale in both A minor and C major can be played on a piano or other keyboard instrument using only the white keys.
Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals when needed.
Most of the time key signatures were cancelled whenever the new key signature had fewer sharps or flats than the old key signature, in modern popular music, this is only done when C major or A minor replace another key.[1]
Well-known classical music in this key
change- Violin Concerto in A minor BWV1041 - Johann Sebastian Bach
- Piano Sonata in A minor, K. 310 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Bagatelle in A minor "Für Elise" - Ludwig van Beethoven
- Violin Sonata No. 4 Op.23 - Ludwig van Beethoven
- String Quartet No. 15 Op.132 - Ludwig van Beethoven
- Caprice No. 24 (Paganini) - Niccolo Paganini
- Prelude #2 in A minor, Op. 28 #2 - Frédéric Chopin
- Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 - Robert Schumann
- Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 35 - Johannes Brahms
- Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16 - Edvard Grieg
- Oboe Concerto in A Minor - Ralph Vaughan Williams
- Symphony No. 6 - Gustav Mahler
- Symphony No. 4 - Jean Sibelius
- Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini - Sergei Rachmaninoff
References
change- ↑ Matthew Nicholl & Richard Grudzinski, Music Notation: Preparing Scores and Parts, ed. Jonathan Feist. Boston: Berklee Press (2007): 56. "In popular and commercial music, the old key signature is cancelled only if the new key is C major or A minor."