Unit 2: Music Fundamentals II: Minor Scales and Key Signatures, Melody, Timbre, and Texture

Scale

An ordered collection of pitches organized by a pattern of whole steps and half steps.

Key (tonal)

More than a scale: a hierarchy of pitch relationships that makes one note feel like “home” (the tonic) and gives other notes different stability and pull.

Tonic

The tonal center (“home” pitch) of a key; the point of greatest rest and resolution.

Minor scale

A seven-note (heptatonic) scale collection that supports minor-key melody and harmony, characterized most basically by a lowered scale degree 3 compared with major on the same tonic.

Relative keys

Two keys that share the same key signature but have different tonics (e.g., C major and A minor).

Parallel keys

Two keys that share the same tonic but differ in mode (major vs minor), so they have different key signatures (e.g., C major and C minor).

Relative minor

The minor key that shares a key signature with a given major key; it is built on scale degree 6 of the relative major (or found by moving down a minor third from the major tonic).

Key signature

A notational shortcut showing which pitches are consistently sharpened or flattened unless canceled; in AP tonal contexts it reflects major and natural minor (not harmonic/melodic minor alterations).

Natural minor (Aeolian)

The diatonic minor scale with no alterations beyond the key signature; can be formed by starting a major scale on its 6th scale degree; has lowered 3, 6, and 7 compared with the parallel major.

Harmonic minor

Natural minor with a raised 7th scale degree (ascending and descending), creating a leading tone and strengthening dominant-to-tonic harmonic pull.

Melodic minor (AP convention)

A minor-scale form that typically raises scale degrees 6 and 7 when ascending, then returns to natural minor (lowered 6 and 7) when descending.

Leading tone

Scale degree 7 when it is a half step below tonic; it has a strong tendency to resolve upward to tonic.

Subtonic

Scale degree 7 when it is a whole step below tonic (common in natural minor), typically less strongly directed to tonic than a leading tone.

Augmented second

The widened interval often created in harmonic minor between scale degrees 6 and the raised 7 (e.g., F to G♯ in A minor).

Scale degree

A numbered position (1–7) within a scale, often associated with a functional name (tonic, dominant, etc.).

Dominant

Scale degree 5; a highly functional degree/chord that drives motion back to the tonic (especially in cadences).

Order of sharps

The fixed sequence in which sharps appear in key signatures: F, C, G, D, A, E, B.

Order of flats

The fixed sequence in which flats appear in key signatures: B, E, A, D, G, C, F.

Last-sharp rule

To identify a sharp major key from its key signature, take the last sharp and go up a half step to find the major tonic.

Second-to-last-flat rule

To identify a flat major key from its key signature, the major tonic is the second-to-last flat (special case: one flat = F major).

Circle of fifths

A conceptual map organizing keys by perfect fifths; moving clockwise adds sharps (in sharp order) and moving counterclockwise adds flats (in flat order).

Modulation

The process of changing from one key/tonal center to another, often using common chords or a clear shift at a new phrase/section.

Melody

A logical, recognizable linear progression of pitches and rhythms (a coherent succession of notes rather than random pitches).

Conjunct motion

Melodic motion that is mostly stepwise (seconds), often smoother and more singable.

Disjunct motion

Melodic motion with frequent skips/leaps (thirds and larger), often more angular or dramatic.

Contour

The overall shape of a melody (e.g., rising, falling, arching, zigzagging).

Tessitura

Where a melody mostly sits within its overall range (its “comfortable” or most-used register area).

Motive (motif)

A short, recognizable melodic and/or rhythmic idea that can be repeated and developed to create unity.

Sequence

A coherence device in which a motive repeats at a different pitch level while preserving its interval relationships (i.e., transposed repetition).

Phrase

A musical unit that feels like a complete thought and often ends with a cadence; commonly 2, 4, or 8 measures in tonal styles.

Cadence

A musical punctuation point, usually at the end of a phrase, created by characteristic harmonic and melodic motion (often involving dominant-to-tonic behavior).

Antecedent phrase

The “question” phrase in a phrase pair, often ending with a weaker cadence (commonly a half cadence).

Timbre (tone color)

The sound quality that makes two instruments/voices playing the same pitch at the same loudness still sound different; influenced by sound production, materials, and register.

Texture

How many musical layers are happening at once and how they relate, focusing on independent lines rather than just number of instruments.

Monophonic

A texture consisting of a single melodic line with no accompaniment (unison/octaves can still function as one line in many contexts).

Homophonic

A texture with a primary melody supported by harmony (e.g., chordal blocks or melody with accompaniment).

Polyphonic

A texture with two or more independent melodic lines of roughly equal importance (counterpoint/contrapuntal writing).

Heterophonic

A texture in which one melody is performed simultaneously in multiple parts but with different ornamentation or rhythmic variation.

Ostinato

A short melodic, rhythmic, or harmonic pattern that is repeated persistently throughout all or part of a piece.

Chromatic scale

A symmetrical scale collection consisting of pitches spaced entirely by half steps (containing all chromatic pitches).

Whole-tone scale

A six-note (hexatonic) scale collection in which each pitch is a whole step from the next.

Pentatonic scale

A five-note scale collection typically containing no half steps, often described as lacking the half-step tensions of major/minor.

Interval

The distance between two pitches; can be melodic (successive) or harmonic (simultaneous).

Interval quantity

The size/number of an interval, determined by counting letter names inclusively (e.g., C to E is a 3rd).

Interval quality

The specific type of an interval (major, minor, perfect, augmented, diminished), determined by the exact number of half steps for that quantity.

Diminished interval

An interval one half step smaller than a perfect or minor interval (e.g., diminished 5th is one half step smaller than a perfect 5th).

Interval inversion

The relationship created by moving one note of an interval by an octave; major inverts to minor, and augmented inverts to diminished.

Compound interval

An interval larger than an octave; it relates to a simple interval by adding 7 to the interval number (or subtracting 7 to reduce).

Syncopation

Rhythmic displacement of expected strong beats, created by ties, rests, accents, placement, dots, or dynamics.

Hemiola

A special kind of syncopation where beats are temporarily regrouped into twos (commonly heard as 3 groups of 2 replacing 2 groups of 3, or vice versa).