If a piece is played in e.g. 'B major' what does that mean?

quote:

Originally posted by andy c:

Has anyone here posted the rules around major and minor scales around how the major and minor scales are constructed?

I posted the construction of any major scale yesterday (on the previous page): whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step ... where a half step is the distance from any one piano key to the very next key, whether it's white or black, and a whole step is, obviously, the distance of two consecutive half steps.

In shorthand one will often see this: W-W-H-W-W-W-H, or expressed in number of semitones (half steps): 2-2-1-2-2-2-1, or in terms of scale degrees: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8.

The major scale is straight forward, but there's more than one minor scale.

The natural minor scale is expressed as such: W-H-W-W-H-W-W or 2-1-2-2-1-2-2 or 1-2-♭3-4-5-♭6-♭7-8 (the flat sign, ♭, means the scale degree is lowered by one semitone or half step).

The harmonic minor scale is constructed as such: 1-2-♭3-4-5-♭6-7-8 or, expressed in number of semitones: 2-1-2-2-1-3-1.

The melodic minor scale has an ascending form and a descending form, although its descending form is identical to the natural minor scale. Melodic minor ascending expressed in number of semitones: 2-1-2-2-2-2-1

Hope this helps.

Best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by fred simon:

quote:

Originally posted by Trilobyte:

I couldn't find a hash key on my keyboard and C sharp is the same as Db(flat).

Hash sign should be shift-3 ... I've never seen a keyboard without one.

Best,
Fred

Shift 3 is the "£" sign on a UK keyboard...
My hash sign (#) is three keys to the right of my letter "L", just to the left of my "enter" key....