Knowra Major and minor Major and minor Major and minor are the two principal modes of Western tonal music, defined by different scale intervals and triad structures. Their contrasting sounds are often associated with brightness and darkness, though these emotional associations are culturally shaped.
Musical scale : An ordered sequence of pitches used as the basis for melody and harmony. Major and minor are scale types built from different patterns of pitch intervals.
Major scale : A seven-note scale with the interval pattern tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. Its pattern defines the standard major mode and produces a major tonic triad.
Dorian mode : A musical mode with a minor third and a major sixth above its tonic. Dorian shares minor's lowered third but avoids the natural minor scale's lowered sixth.
Musical affect : The emotions and expressive qualities conveyed or perceived in music. Associations between major, minor, and emotion are one part of musical affect.
Musical interval : The difference in pitch between two notes, measured by size and quality. The modes are distinguished by the sizes of intervals between their scale degrees.
Minor scale : A family of seven-note scales characterized by a lowered third relative to the parallel major scale. Its variable sixth and seventh degrees produce several forms of the minor mode.
Phrygian mode : A musical mode with a lowered second and lowered sixth above its tonic. Its minor third resembles minor, but the lowered second gives it a distinct interval profile.
Mode (music) : A system of organizing pitches around a central note, often through a characteristic scale. Major and minor are modes within Western tonal music's broader pitch-organizing tradition.
Tonic (music) : The central pitch of a key, perceived as the point of rest and resolution. The tonic anchors both modes and gives their scale degrees a shared reference.
Parallel key : A major and minor key that share the same tonic but have different modes. Comparing parallel keys isolates the effect of changing major-mode pitches to minor.
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