minor to major

[swan_tower]

Hey, people who know more about music theory than I do:

How does one go about shifting a piece of music from a minor key to a major one? (Assume, for the purposes of this discussion, that I'm just looking to transpose a simple melodic line. No chords or anything to worry about.)

Comments

[choirwoman]

Does it need to stay roughly the same pitch? Then simply add three sharps (one sharp more = one flat less, so if it's in G minor which has two flats it will end up on G major with one sharp). Otherwise, transpose it a third up (one line on the staff) without changing the key signature, so for instance A minor will end up as C major, no sharps or flats at all.

[swan_tower]

Staying the same pitch isn't required. I was under the impression it was more complicated than that, though -- maybe that's only if there's more going on with chords and such. I'll give it a shot, thanks!

[choirwoman]

And if this boggles you, you can always scan it and send it to me (irina@valdyas.org) so I can have a look at it.

[brooksmoses]

For something in C major, you would take all of the E's, A's, and B's in the melodic line and move them down a half-step -- to E-flat, A-flat, and B-flat, respectively. (If you have things that are already one of those flats, you then need to fudge something appropriate-in-context with them.)

For something in other majors, you do the equivalent -- things that are two whole steps below the base note, one whole step below it, and two whole steps above it get moved down a half-step.

[dr_whom]

But you might refrain from flatting the seventh and perhaps the sixth—i.e., the B and perhaps the A—if doing so would make the melodic line really weird. For instance, a scale leading up to C really wants to have a B there, not a B-flat. The flat third—the E—is totally essential, though.

(The so-called melodic minor scale specifically uses A and B natural when the melody is going up the scale and A-flat and B-flat when the melody is going down; but you have more flexibility than that.)

[nnozomi.livejournal.com]

The above commenters are providing helpful advice on shifting a piece of music from major to minor. You can shift from minor to major basically by doing the reverse; the single thing which will make the most difference is raising the third a half step: that is, a piece in C minor will have E-flats in it, and you can make it sound more like C major by making them all E-naturals. Another way to describe it might be comparing the key signatures of the minor and major keys and changing the notes likewise (the key signature of C minor has B-flat, E-flat, and A-flat, while the key signature of C major has no flats or sharps at all, so to go from one to the other you would take any B-flats, E-flats and A-flats and make them all naturals, and so on).
I hope that makes sense, and that you don't mind something of a drive-by comment. I miss music theory...

[dr_whom]

…Whoops, yeah, I totally misread the question apparently.

[brooksmoses]

Thank you, yes! I misread the question too!

[squishymeister.livejournal.com]

The easiest way is to modulate up the circle of 5ths. As my theory teacher used to say, the 5ths is like a merry-go-round. You can get on it and ride until you feel like getting off at a new key ;).

(if I'm remembering this right, this music theory class was back in 2001)