# Unit 1: Key, Scales, and Modes This study guide summarizes the Unit 1 concepts shown in the provided photos. It is a paraphrased review, not a transcription of the textbook. ## Core Idea Music in a key is organized around a central tone called the tonic. Other tones do not merely coexist with the tonic; they relate to it by degrees of stability, direction, and tendency. A scale is a compact way to show this tonal field: it starts from the tonic, moves through the available scale degrees, and returns to the tonic at the octave. ## Key and Tonic - A key has a tonic, the central tone around which the music is organized. - Tones other than the tonic sound subordinate to it in different ways. - Melodies often begin on tonic, mediant, or dominant, but tonal motion still tends to seek tonic as a point of rest or completion. - The tonic may appear in different registers and still function as the same tonal center. ## Scale Degrees Scale degrees are numbered positions in a scale. Their traditional names are: | Scale degree | Name | | --- | --- | | 1 | Tonic | | 2 | Supertonic | | 3 | Mediant | | 4 | Subdominant | | 5 | Dominant | | 6 | Submediant | | 7 | Leading tone in major, or subtonic in natural minor | | 8 | Tonic at the octave | The octave is central to pitch organization: two notes with the same letter name but different registers sound closely related. This is called octave equivalence. ## Major Scales The major scale is a diatonic scale. It contains five whole steps and two half steps arranged in a specific pattern: ```text 1 W 2 W 3 H 4 W 5 W 6 W 7 H 8 ``` In major, the half steps occur between scale degrees 3-4 and 7-8. The half step from 7 to 8 gives scale degree 7 its leading-tone pull into tonic. ## Stable and Active Tones The tonic triad tones, scale degrees 1, 3, 5, and the octave 8, are relatively stable. They can serve as local goals in a melody. Other scale degrees are more active: - 2 often connects 1 and 3. - 4 often connects 3 and 5. - 6 and 7 often connect 5 and 8. - 7 has the strongest upward pull to 8 in major because it lies a half step below tonic. Motion toward 1 has the greatest sense of finality, but motion toward 3 or 5 can also sound goal-directed because those notes belong to the tonic triad. ## Passing and Neighboring Tones A passing tone fills in stepwise motion between two more stable tones. For example, scale degree 2 can pass between 1 and 3, and scale degree 4 can pass between 3 and 5. A neighboring tone leaves a stable tone by step and returns to the same stable tone. A neighbor above the stable tone is an upper neighbor; a neighbor below it is a lower neighbor. These tones help explain why melodies feel like directed motion rather than a random sequence of notes. ## Major and Minor The most basic contrast between major and minor lies in the third above tonic: - Major has a major third between 1 and 3. - Minor has a minor third between 1 and 3. The emotional meaning of major and minor is not absolute, but the major/minor contrast is still a major factor in the character of tonal music. ## Natural Minor Natural minor follows the key signature without raising scale degrees. Compared with major, it has lowered 3, 6, and 7: ```text 1 W 2 H b3 W 4 W 5 H b6 W b7 W 8 ``` Its half steps occur between 2-3 and 5-6. Because natural minor has a whole step between 7 and 8, scale degree 7 is called the subtonic rather than the leading tone. ## Harmonic and Melodic Minor Minor-key music often alters scale degrees 6 and 7 to strengthen tonal motion: - Harmonic minor raises 7 so it can lead strongly to tonic. - Melodic minor often raises both 6 and 7 in ascending motion, smoothing the approach to tonic. - Descending melodic minor commonly returns 6 and 7 to their natural forms. These are not separate minor keys. They are common forms or variants used within minor-key music. The key signature itself represents the natural minor collection. ## Key Signatures Major and minor keys use key signatures to preserve the correct pattern of whole and half steps. - Moving upward by fifths adds sharps. - Moving downward by fifths adds flats. - Relative major and minor keys share a key signature but have different tonics. - Parallel major and minor keys share a tonic but have different key signatures. Examples: - C major and A minor are relative keys. - C major and C minor are parallel keys. ## Modes The seven diatonic modes are: - Ionian, equivalent to the major scale - Dorian - Phrygian - Lydian - Mixolydian - Aeolian, equivalent to natural minor - Locrian For common-practice tonal music, major and minor are the primary modes. Other modal colors may appear, but usually inside a broader major/minor tonal context. ## Tonality Tonality means organization around a tonal center. In a broad sense, any music organized around a central tone can be called tonal, including modal music and many non-Western traditions. In the common-practice context, the more specific idea is major-minor tonality: music organized primarily by major and minor keys. ## Memory Targets - Memorize the scale-degree names. - Know the major scale whole/half-step pattern. - Know the natural minor whole/half-step pattern. - Know why natural minor has a subtonic and why raised 7 creates a leading tone. - Memorize the fifteen major key signatures and fifteen minor key signatures. - Be fluent with relative and parallel key relationships. - Know the seven diatonic modes and which correspond to major and natural minor.