Major and natural minor on one tonic

The Common ToneWhere the Sacred and the Profane Share the Same Cup

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3, 6, 7 lowered by a half step

Piano

Text version

Same home note; different colour

Choose a tonic beside the staff. Major and natural minor share that home note. In natural minor, degrees 3, 6 and 7 are a half step lower.

Click a row name to hear its scale, or a written note to hear that note. Left/Right moves within a row; Up/Down switches rows at the same degree. Enter/Space repeats a note. Clicking a row again restarts it.

Hear both plays major, pauses, then plays natural minor. Up & down applies to each row. Stop ends the whole sequence. W means whole step; H means half step.

The optional piano marks the current row’s scale notes with dots and shading. Other pitches can be heard too. Locate selected note moves only the piano. Help never stops playback; close it with ×, Escape or Help again.

The Common Tone

Where the Sacred and the Profane Share the Same Cup.

A living textbook of popular music theory, published one chapter a week, with drills, tools and essays alongside.

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