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Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp minor, has six single sharps and the double sharp F, which makes it impractical to use. The F natural minor scale is
Going counter-clockwise from C results in lowering the fourth scale degree with each successive key (starting on F requires a B ♭ to form a major scale). Each major key has a relative minor key that shares the same key signature. The relative minor is always a minor third lower than its relative major.
In the key of C major, these would be: D minor, E minor, F major, G major, A minor, and C minor. Despite being three sharps or flats away from the original key in the circle of fifths, parallel keys are also considered as closely related keys as the tonal center is the same, and this makes this key have an affinity with the original key.
A pair of major and minor scales sharing the same key signature are said to be in a relative relationship. [1] [2] The relative minor of a particular major key, or the relative major of a minor key, is the key which has the same key signature but a different tonic. (This is as opposed to parallel minor or major, which shares the same tonic.)
Since the natural minor scale is built on the 6th degree of the major scale, the tonic of the relative minor is a major sixth above the tonic of the major scale. For instance, B minor is the relative minor of D major because the note B is a major sixth above D. As a result, the key signatures of B minor and D major both have two sharps (F ...
The sharps in the key signature of G ♯ major here proceed C ♯, G ♯, D ♯, A ♯, E ♯, B ♯, F. Single sharps or flats in the key signature are sometimes repeated as a courtesy, e.g. Max Reger's Supplement to the Theory of Modulation, which contains D ♭ minor key signatures on pp. 42–45.
For example, A-minor is "Am" and D-sharp minor is "D ♯ m"). The small interval between equivalent notes, such as F-sharp and G-flat, is the Pythagorean comma . Minor scales start with , major scales start with .
The 'major' alteration is usually superfluous, as a key description missing an alteration is invariably assumed to be major. In the German notation scheme, a hyphen is added between the pitch and the alteration (D-Dur). In German, Dutch, and Lithuanian, the minor key signatures are written with a lower case letter (d-Moll, d klein, d kleine terts).