Student’s question:
If the major scale is the origin of all Western music, then how should we think about songs that are in a minor key, or blues music that doesn’t seem to be based on the major scale at all?
How we think about this in IFR:
Almost every song you’ve ever heard that sounds like it’s in a “minor key” to your ear is based in what we call the Sixth Harmonic Environment of the major scale. This means that note 6 is acting as the tonal center, which causes all of the other notes to sound like a minor scale to your ear. We study these sounds very deeply in Ear Training for Musical Creativity 2 and also in Sing the Numbers 2: The Minor Tonality.
An alternate way of approaching these minor songs is to call the minor tonal center your note 1. This is what gives rise to the concept of a “minor scale” which includes alterations like b3, b6 and b7. While this might be simpler conceptually in the beginning, it forces you to treat the shift from major to minor as a genuine key change. Every time the tonal center of a song shifts between notes 1 and 6, you need to move your entire tonal map and start over in the new key.
As improvisers, we want to avoid these artificial key changes. Wherever possible, we always want to be able to view the entire harmonic progression of a song on a single tonal map. And because most songs actually switch back and forth between major and minor, it’s very important to be able to picture all of these sounds on a single map of the musical landscape. This is why it’s so empowering to learn to understand your minor tonal center as note 6.
The blues sound that you mentioned is even more interesting. Blues music has many dissonant sounds like dominant chords, blue notes, bending, the “blues scale”, etc. But remember, EVERY note you play is somewhere on your IFR Tonal Map. The IFR Tonal Map includes all 12 notes of the chromatic scale, so there isn’t a harmonic concept in the world that can’t be visualized and understood using the tonal map concept. The IFR Blues Mastery Course will show you exactly how this applies to the blues.
So even though the major scale is the origin of these sounds, we create minor scales and chords by simply moving the tonal center to a different note other than note 1. You’ll get your first taste of this beautiful effect in your Seven Worlds practice, and this will continue to be an important theme as you move into studying songs and chord progressions later on.
