Do You Prefer Major Key or Minor Key? Why?

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Do you generally prefer songs written in major key or minor key? Why?

I for one prefer the minor key. I like the sound of it better. I prefer the sound of the primary chords of the minor key to those of the major. I like the meaner sound that minor key seems to have.

Plus, always being downbeat is a misconception of the minor key. There are many minor key songs that are upbeat. Take a look at the soundtrack of _Disney's Aladdin_, for example. All of its songs except for "A Whole New World" and "One Jump Ahead Repriese" are written in minor key. If I recall,

"Arabian Nights"--A minor
"One Jump Ahead"--E minor
"One Jump Ahead Reprise"--Bb major
"Friend Like Me"--D minor
"Prince Ali"--A minor, then B minor, then C minor
"A Whole New World"--Eb major
"Prince Ali Reprise"--A minor, then D minor

What do y'all think?

I like songs in both major and minor keys. I think that major or minor can be preferable depending on what kind of music is being played.

Chris,

Major key can be good too. Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is in major key, for
example. Still, minor key tends to sound more interesting.

I don't have a particular preference although I do like pieces that are at times a bit ambiguous as to which mode they are in.

I find it interesting the way many people seem to use minor keys for sad moods and major keys for happy moods ~ It doesn't work that way for me, I don't necesarily attach a particular mood to major or minor.

For me, it seems that many of my favourite pieces are in minor keys. But its a very personal thing: to me it isn't so much that minor keys sound "sad". but that the feelings they induce are deeper, more emotional (music can induce many emotions!) and more contemplative. (Having said that, I have to admit that one of my all-time favourite works, the Goldberg Variations) is mostly in G major...only a couple of the variations are in G minor!)

But what is more interesting to me is just why we percieve the modes in such a way. I do realise that there are individuals who do not agree with this, but in general, most people experience major keys as happy, positive, even ebullient, whiile minor keys are seen as sadder, more serious, more thoughtful. Why? Is it something we learn through experience, or is it a result of the way our nervous systems work? After all, the only difference between a major and a minor scale is that a couple of the notes are flattened ....so the pattern of tones and semitones is different in the way the scale is made up. I am not sure why this should result in a pretty consistant emotional perception. After all there is no one 'natural' way of dividing up the notes in an octave . Music o f different cultures does this in different ways. Even in Western music, the modern major and minor scales are only the survivors of the several medieval 'modes'. each of which spaced the notes differently between the two octave notes. And in any case, although originally the "intervals" between the notes was defined as simple mathematical ratios between the frequencies, since the 18th century we have used a "tempered 'scale in which the differences are evened out (so that for example you dont have to adjust the tuning of a piano each time you play in different keys). In other words, the keys are all slightly "out of tune" by rigorous mathematical standards ... yet because our ears are accustomed to it, we don't notice this.
Is the difference between the moods of major and minor keys also just a matter of habit?

I do ~ at least on the piano keyboard. I can hear the compromise in the 'well-tempered' keyboard but I like it. 'True' tuning sounds bland to me. A 'well-tempered' keyboard sounds 'saltier' (if that makes sense) and you have the advantage of being able to explore every key without adjustment.

I think what makes the minor mode interesting is that the flattened tones result in more notes needing resolution than in the major mode. Maybe people find that expresses sadness because the mind is always striving for resolution.

The major mode derives its main intervals from the first few notes of the harmonic series whereas the minor mode uses tones from the upper part of the harmonic series.

I've never had any musical training in my life. Back in 1989 when I had a chance to get into music thru my school, I passed on it since the idea seemed too dauting to me back then since despite being taught to do so in third grade music class, I was the only one who was unable to read music in my class.

Could someone please explain to me what your all talking about when speak of things such as "minor keys" and "major keys", and what exactly constitutes a "key".

Thanx

A scale is just a pattern of tones and half tones (semitones).

The major scale pattern is ~ Tone / Tone / Semitone / Tone / Tone / Tone / Semitone

This gives the familiar 'do re me fa so la ti do'

Whichever note you choose to start your pattern will denote your 'Key'.

On a piano if you choose the note 'C' to start from then the pattern will be played on the white notes only.

If you choose any other note to start from you will have to flatten or sharpen some of the notes (by using the black notes) in order to preserve the 'do re me fa so la ti do' pattern.

Thus if you start on the note 'A' you will be in the key of 'A major' and the 'Key Signature' will tell you that three notes will be sharpend and which three notes they are.

This is the basic major scale ~ the harmonic minor scale uses the same principle but with a different pattern to give that sound which many hear as 'sad' or 'plaintive' etc.

Scoots5012,

The pattern for the minor scale is:

Tone-Semitone-Tone-Tone-Semitone-Tone-Tone

Basically, when you finish setting up the scale, you'll end up with the same note you started with, but an octave higher.

If you use "A minor" on the piano, then you'll have only the white keys to play.

Note, however, that songs often use notes that fall outside their keys. There tends to be modulation (key changing) throughout the song, but the key is considered to be the same, because it always comes back to that original key.

Essentially, each key has a base note, which is indicated in the x for x major/minor. When the song goes to that note, it has a sense of coming back home.

Simplisticly, songs written in either C major or A minor use exactly the same notes (ignoring the harmonic minor malarkey), but an A minor song will "zone in" on and use the A note more, which when using that particular pattern of notes sounds "sadder" than if you "zone in" on and emphasise the C as a C major song will......

Next week on "Music Today": the Lydian mode.

This is great ~ Online Aspie-school

If anyone wants to set up a basic HTML or web-design class I'm eager to learn

We should give Scoots some homework

I suspect it is a matter of habit. There are plenty of pieces in which minor keys sound happy or major keys sound unhappy.

Most modern pop records are in major keys, and they sure manage to make me unhappy.....

A good way to get an idea of the difference between the minor and major keys is this:

Go to a piano. Play the notes A, C, and E at the same time. Try having them in the same octave, with the A as the lowest and the E as the highest and the C in the middle. Then do that again, but change the key to C#. The one where you played with the C (natural--no #) is the A minor chord, while the one you played with C# is the A major chord. Try playing around with playing this. Play the A major chord 4 consecutive times, followed by the A minor chord 4 consecutive times. Put it into reverse. With playing these like that, you should get a good idea of the difference between the minor key and the major key.

Thanks for all of your input

I kind of have a basic understanding of what notes are.

Right now I'am listening to "Chocolate Fudge" off mannheim steamrollers first album. Since were on the subject of piano notes, this is good song for me to get my feet wet since the first minute of it is all piano, percussion, and bass before the synthesizer kicks in and carries the song to conclsuion.

So if understand what I have quoted correctly, the first note of the song is a fairly low one. I'm going to say "E", so that would mean that the song would be in a key of "E"?