One-octave Scale: A Minor

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.

Today we're learning another one octave scale in a key which happens to be a relative of C major,

and that is the lovely key of A minor,

and what makes keys related to each other?

Well, think about if you're related to another person.

When you're related, that means you're in the same family, and it often means you share the same last name.

Or you may share the same home together.

Once, in my family it even meant sharing the same toothbrush.

I know it's icky, but we were on vacation and somebody forgot their toothbrush.

That somebody might have been me.

Well, in music if two different keys are related, they're not sharing the same toothbrush, they share the same key signature.

Which means they'll both use the exact same sharps or flats as each other.

Let's come to the piano to explore this a little further.

Here we have all the notes of the C major one octave scale, which as you know has zero sharps or flats.

Well today we're going to find the relative minor of C major.

To find the relative minor we always go a third below the starting or tonic key, and that would bring us to A.

So now we're looking at the A minor one octave scale.

Which is a relative of C major, because just like C major it's all white keys no sharps or flats.

It has the same key signature.

Now to be more specific this is called A natural minor.

There are actually a few variations on the minor scale and this particular variation is natural minor.

We can play the A natural minor scale using the same fingering we used for the C major one octave scale.

Let's start with our left hand,

and I'm placing my finger 5 on A,

and we'll go 5 4 3 2 1, and then when we get there remember our finger 3 is going to glide over and we'll just keep on going up

until we get to A, and now we can come back down. A G F, finger 1 sneaks under.

Remember, we have a group of five, and then a group of three,

and then we come back down.

Okay, let's try playing that together. Place your finger 5 on A with me, and let's play it together.

Ready, go. 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1

2 3 1 2 3 4 5

Great, now press pause and try the a natural minor   scale using your left hand.

On your own, try it a few times, then press play to go on.

Now, I mentioned in minor keys there are a few variations. We've already tried the natural minor version of A minor, which again same key signature as C major.

There's another variation called harmonic minor, which involves taking the seventh note of the scale

and raising it a half step. So we have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. It will always be the note just a step below our tonic or starting note.

And you raise that seventh note one half step, so G becomes G-sharp.

You leave all the other notes exactly the same as before, and this creates what's called harmonic minor.

It has a unique sound. Let's listen to it

Pretty cool sound, huh?

This interval right here gives it a rather exotic, some people think, kind of an Arabian kind of sound.

So that is called harmonic minor.

Let's try it together.

So once again, place your left hand finger 5 on A,

and here we go: Let's say the letter names as we play. Begin.

A B C D E F G-sharp A, then we'll come back down.

G-sharp, F, finger 1 comes under, E D C B A.

So remember, the only thing you're changing now instead of playing a G with finger 2, you're now playing that as a G-sharp.

So there's a little bit of a stretch between fingers 2 and 3 to accommodate that G-sharp.

Now press pause and try that a few times on your own to get comfortable with A harmonic minor,

then press play when you're ready to go on.

Now, a quick pro tip reminder about doing scales:

Remember, you don't want to come flying over.

As you cross over just glide across. Keep your fingers pretty close to the keys, and as your thumb comes under,

just do it subtly.

Don't make a big deal flopping your arm or wrist around. Just try and sneak under.

The more subtle your motion, generally the better.
Okay, now let's try playing those scales in the right hand.

So with your right hand, let's place finger 1 on A, and let's start with natural minor.

Remember, in the right hand we do a group of three and then a group of five. It's kind of the opposite

pattern that our left hand uses.

So let's try it together slowly. Finger 1 on A, re ...