In music theory, a

major scale The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at double ...

and a

minor scale In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which ...

that have the same

tonic note In music, the tonic is the first scale degree () of the diatonic scale (the first note of a scale) and the tonal center or final resolution tone that is commonly used in the final cadence in tonal (musical key-based) classical music, popul ...

are called parallel keys and are said to be in a parallel relationship. Forte, Allen (1979). ''Tonal Harmony'', p.9. 3rd edition. Holt, Rinehart, and Wilson. . "When a major and minor scale both begin with the same note ... they are called ''parallel''. Thus we say that the parallel major key of C minor is C major, the parallel minor of C major is C minor." The parallel minor or tonic minor of a particular major key is the minor key based on the same tonic; similarly the parallel major has the same tonic as the minor key. For example, G major and G minor have different

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s but both have the same tonic, G; so G minor is said to be the parallel minor of G major. In contrast, a major scale and a minor scale that have the same key signature (and therefore different tonics) are called relative keys. Major and minor scales

A major scale can be transformed to its parallel minor by lowering the third, sixth, and seventh scale degrees, and a minor scale can be transformed to its parallel major by

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those same scale degrees. In the early nineteenth century, composers began to experiment with freely borrowing chords from the parallel key. To the Western ear, the switch from a major key to its parallel minor sounds like a fairly simplistic saddening of the mood (while the opposite sounds like a brightening). This change is quite distinct from a switch to the

relative minor In music, relative keys are the major and minor scales that have the same key signatures (enharmonically equivalent), meaning that they share all the same notes but are arranged in a different order of whole steps and half steps. A pair of major an ...

. Class or key have their second theme in the relative major in the exposition, but the second theme comes back in the original minor key in the recapitulation. This is unique to the form, and allows the composer to state a given theme in both major and minor modes. Later it also became common to state the second theme in the tonic major in the recapitulation, with or without a later return to the minor. In

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and

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...

, examples of songs that emphasize parallel keys include

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Temptation Eyes "Temptation Eyes" is a 1970 hit song by The Grass Roots. It was released on their second compilation album, '' More Golden Grass''. Background The song reached number 15 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1971. It spent 18 weeks on the charts, ...

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Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" is a song by British rock group the Police from their fourth album, ''Ghost in the Machine''. The song, notable for featuring a pianist (uncommon in Police songs), dates back to a demo recorded in the house ...

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Funkytown "Funkytown" is a song by the American disco/funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music gen ...

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' " Norwegian Wood," and

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dram ...

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You Don't Have To Say You Love Me "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (originally a 1965 Italian song, '"Io che non vivo (senza te)", by Pino Donaggio and Vito Pallavicini) is a 1966 hit recorded by English singer Dusty Springfield that proved to be her most successful single, ...

".Stephenson, Ken (2002). ''What to Listen for in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis'', p.48. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parallel Key Chords Harmony Musical keys Tonality

See also

References