Keys
The hallmark that distinguishes major keys from minor is whether the third scale degree is major or minor. "The crucial difference is that in the minor scale there is only a half step between the second and third tones as compared to the major scales where the difference between third and fourth note and between the seventh and the eighth note is half." This alteration in the third degree "greatly changes" the mood of the music, and "music based on minor scales tends to" be considered to "sound serious or melancholic".
Read more about this topic: Major And Minor
Famous quotes containing the word keys:
“Thou hast the keys of Paradise, oh just, subtle, and mighty opium!”
—Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859)
“without luggage or defenses,
giving up my car keys and my cash,
keeping only a pack of Salem cigarettes
the way a child holds on to a toy.
I signed myself in where a stranger
puts the inked-in X’s”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“McCoy: That shark’s been following us ever since the surgeon died, waiting for the burial. Couldn’t I have a musket to shoot it, sir?
Fletcher Christian: Take the deck, McCoy. I’ll get the keys to the arms chest.
McCoy: Get two muskets, sir. I’d like to shoot that shark on board.”
—Talbot Jennings (1896–1985)