C minor

The key with three flats

C minor has the same key signature as E♭ major: B♭, E♭, A♭. Natural minor has no leading tone, which is why in harmonic minor the seventh degree is raised to B and the dominant becomes the major triad G. This B appears as an accidental in the bar, not in the key signature.

C minor and C major

The parallel key of C major is C minor: same tonic, three more flats. The change to the parallel key is a much stronger emotional contrast than the change to the relative key, because three notes change at once. At the core, however, the tonic triads differ in only one note: C major is C–E–G, C minor is C–E♭–G. This small shift by just one semitone upsets the whole effect. The article Major and minor: the third as a switch uses it to demonstrate the principle. Composers also borrow chords from the parallel key: the page on the circle of fifths calls the minor subdominant Fm in C major a common borrowed chord.

A piece in C minor

Piano

• Menuett c-Moll BWV Anh. 121, from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (1725) · piano · 1 page

  3/4 with three flats in the key signature. In the first line there are accidentals, for example an F♯ in the melody.

Common mistakes

• Confusing C minor and E♭ major: Both have three flats.
• Looking for the B in the key signature: It appears as an accidental in the bar.
• Spelling: Write the note letter as a capital and the mode word in lowercase: “C minor”, “C major”.