What is a relative major and minor?

What is a relative major and minor?

• A. When two scales share the same tonic pitch
• B. When two scales use the same pitches, just different tonics (Ex: C minor and Eb major)
• C. When one scale is the inverse of the other
• D. When they share no common tones

Answer: (B)

Two scales are relative major and minor when they use the same set of notes and share the same key signature, but their tonal centers are different. In other words, the notes are the same, just arranged around a different tonic. C minor and Eb major show this clearly: they use the same pitches (the same flats in the key signature), but one centers on C and the other on Eb. This is why they’re considered a relative pair. A quick way to think about it is that the relative minor of a major key is the minor key that shares that major key’s signature and pitches, typically found by counting three semitones down from the major tonic. The other ideas don’t fit because they describe different relationships—sharing the same tonic would be parallel major/minor, not relative; inverses aren’t the relation here; and having no common tones would contradict the shared-pitch nature of relative keys.

Two scales are relative major and minor when they use the same set of notes and share the same key signature, but their tonal centers are different. In other words, the notes are the same, just arranged around a different tonic.

C minor and Eb major show this clearly: they use the same pitches (the same flats in the key signature), but one centers on C and the other on Eb. This is why they’re considered a relative pair. A quick way to think about it is that the relative minor of a major key is the minor key that shares that major key’s signature and pitches, typically found by counting three semitones down from the major tonic.

The other ideas don’t fit because they describe different relationships—sharing the same tonic would be parallel major/minor, not relative; inverses aren’t the relation here; and having no common tones would contradict the shared-pitch nature of relative keys.