New Key Signature Question.

[jmrunning3]

My lesson this week is in the Key E Major. The music is the Beatles' "Michelle". The point of the lesson itself is learning triads, their relationships, and their sounds. Basically, "how they work". My instructor believes the music he gave me was transcribed by Billy Sheehan so it has a lot of chords. I'm not familiar with the original work so I'm certain whether this is note-for-note or an interpretation.

 

My question is this: What is the Major/minor relationship? E Major and C# minor are relative keys and I can easily see why. But I don't understand why the Aeolian mode is allowed it's own key. Also, if you write out the modes in that minor key, do you begin with Aeolian? I'm confused.

[jitter]

Maybe this helps: http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/m4.shtml

 

It's obviously about the original version, but maybe there are some similarities to the version you're trying to analyze and you can use this as a kind of starting point. If your version is indeed by Sheehan I'd expect a lot of reharmonization going on. Probably not the best way to start out with theory

 

That's the link to the "front page" where you can read about *all* the other Beatles songs. Awesome stuff, IMHO:

http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/awp-notes_on.shtml

[LstPrpht4Lfe]

In reference to your questions, the major/minor relationship is this: The minor scale of any major just starts on the 6th scale degree of your major. Hence, the Aeolian (6th scale degree). The sixth scale degree of Em is a C# (or you could just count backwards 1 1/2 steps to find your relative minor starting note). The Aeolian, or natural minor as it's usually called, is just a mode of the major. A set of 8 notes, unaltered by the key sig, to sound a different set of notes, alas a 'minor' sound. As far as writing the modes out, if you start with C#, then it's Aeolian. The next one will begin on D# - Locrian. The next E - Ionian, or your major that you started with, etc. etc. If you haven't done so, take the time to learn your modes. It's worth it, trust me. Forgive me if I've spoken on too basic a level, I don't know what your theory education consists of,

 

X

[LstPrpht4Lfe]

Hope that helps in any way. I know how frustrating music can be.

 

X

[jmrunning3]

Jitter, I appreciate the links. tht is some very interesting insight on their songs. I'm not at all certain about the Billy Sheehan arrangement and neither is my instructor, but there is certainly some harmonization going on in the piece. It does not credit anyone other than Paul and John, I believe.

 

LstPrpht4Lfe, Don't worry, you're not being too basic at all. So, if something is in a minor Key, then we are simply referring to the tonal "home" or "resolution", correct? That fact a piece is in a minor key doesn't change the modes and we are still 1 and 1/2 steps behind the ionian or 4 and 1/2 in front.

 

Please correct me where I am wrong.

[Phil W]

I'd leave minor key harmony for now. Get the major key stuff under your belt first. The main thing to consider, if you're in a minor key is how your going to set the minor tonic chord up with a V7 - dominant chord a fourth below e.g A7 - Dm - this affects the whole diatonic relationship. I wouldn't worry about it for now.

Hope this makes a little sense after an evening of red wine, beer and barbecue with neighbours following lunch with Alex C).

[Eric VB]

Originally posted by jmrunning3:

My lesson this week is in the Key E Major. The music is the Beatles' "Michelle". The point of the lesson itself is learning triads, their relationships, and their sounds. Basically, "how they work". My instructor believes the music he gave me was transcribed by Billy Sheehan so it has a lot of chords. I'm not familiar with the original work so I'm [not] certain whether this is note-for-note or an interpretation.

I think "Michelle" was one of the choices for prepared piece for a recent bass competition (held by Vic Wooten, I believe). I bet a lot of guys played an arrangement similar to the transcription you have.

My question is this: What is the Major/minor relationship? E Major and C# minor are relative keys and I can easily see why. But I don't understand why the Aeolian mode is allowed it's own key. Also, if you write out the modes in that minor key, do you begin with Aeolian? I'm confused.

I'm confused, too.

 

C# minor is the relative minor to E major. Ok. In terms of key signatures, they are the same: F# C# G# D#. So, if you see four sharps in your key sig, how do you know if you're in E major or C# minor? Well, there's usually some clue in the score or else you can hear it once it's played. There's no hard fast rules I know of, but if most of the chords are E, A and B then chances are you're in E major. OTOH, if you're staring at a bunch of C#m, F#m and G#m, chances are you're in C# minor. That's not to say you'll never see an E chord in the key of C# minor, or vice versa, but the phrases might start or end on the key signature chord (E or C#m in this case).

 

For example, "House of the Rising Sun" is typically played in a key signature with no sharps or flats (although it does have some accidentals). Is it C major or A minor? It does sound like it's in a minor key, and the phrases start on Am and end on Am. Chances are it's in A minor (even though the out-of-key Emaj chord crops up with its G#). If you told me you were going to play it in the key of C, I'd understand, but I'd have to think about it a bit to figure out we're starting on Am. If instead you said key of Am, it would be easier.

 

C# minor is also Aeolian mode in the key of E major. Personally, thinking in terms of modes is confusing to me because I don't have them memorized like my zip code. If you ask me my zip code, I can instantly tell you what it is. If you ask me to name all the mode names, I'll probably only recall a few. It's amazing, but I can still play the relative minor scale in any key by starting on the 6th degree of the major scale without knowing that the name of the mode I'm playing is Aeolian.

 

If you want to try to wrap your head around the modes and keys, you could write out all the scales again in the key sig with four sharps, starting with C# and work your way to B. Figure out the mode name for each scale you just wrote out. It's amazing, but it's exactly the same as if you had started in the "normal" fashion with E and then just moved the last three scales/modes to the beginning of the list. (!)

 

Using a numbering system with Roman numerals and capitals for majors and lowercase for minors gives you: I ii iii IV V vi vii. After you've played a gazillion songs that feature only three chords -- typically I IV and V -- you may want to look at things from a minor (instead of major) perspective. There's nothing wrong with thinking vi ii iii, but if you shift your view to the key of the relative minor, that's just i iv v (note lowercase).

 

So, yeah, (pop) music is mostly about three magic chords. Pick a key, any key, major or minor, and you're good to go. It's a huge over-simplification, but don't let mode names get in the way. (That's no reason not to learn them, though.)

 

Hope this helped more than it hurt. Keep at it, young Skywalker, and someday you will be a music theory Jedi.