A flat minor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**A♭ minor**
Relative key	C♭ major

Parallel key	A♭ major
Component pitches
A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭, E♭, F♭, G♭, A♭

A flat minor is a minor scale based on A flat, consisting of the pitches A flat, B flat, C flat, D flat, E flat, F flat, G flat. This is the natural minor. Its key signature consists of seven flats.

The harmonic minor has a raised 7th scale degree. This means the G flat becomes G natural. The melodic minor has a raised 6th and 7th scale degree (the G flat and F flat become G natural and F natural) while it is ascending and returns to the natural minor while it is descending.

Its relative key is C flat major (or, enharmonically, B major), and its parallel major is A flat major. Its enharmonic equivalent is G sharp minor.

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary.

Although A flat minor occurs in modulation in works in other keys, it is seldom used as the principal key of a piece of music. However, Leoš Janáček uses it for his violin sonata and the organ solo of his Glagolitic Mass, and in Frederic Loewe's score to the 1956 musical play My Fair Lady, the Second Servants' Chorus is set in A flat minor (the preceding and following choruses being a semitone lower and higher respectively).