Major

What it means

Major is one of the two modes of Western music since the seventeenth century. Its mark is the major third above the root: the triad on the tonic is a major triad, and the corresponding scale follows the order whole–whole–half–whole–whole–whole–half. The word goes back to the Latin durus, hard, and stems from the medieval designation of the “hard B” (b durum).

Musical use

The predecessor is the Ionian mode, which was taken into the system of the church modes only late. Major prevailed because its scale contains of itself a leading tone below the root and thus a cadential gradient that carries functional harmony.

Every major key has a relative minor with the same key signature, whose root lies a minor third lower. Which of the two is meant is shown not by the key signature but by the music. On the degrees of the major scale there stand three major triads, three minor triads, and one diminished triad.

The widespread equation of major with cheerful and minor with sad expression is a simplification. It holds on average, but countless examples contradict it: there are sorrowful movements in major and dance-like pieces in minor, and in the folk musics of many countries the assignment is entirely different. The change between the two modes is a means of expression in its own right — the Picardy third, for instance, lets a minor piece close on a major chord.

Other names

In German the mode is called Dur, in Italian maggiore. German key names attach the mode to the note name with a hyphen (“C-Dur”), and the note names differ (German H-Dur corresponds to B major). Maggiore also stands in Italian scores as a section heading when a minor movement changes into a major section.

Performance practice

Do not automatically shape major as bright and friendly — check what the music actually asks for. Watch the major third in intonation: it is taken lower than the piano plays it, so that the sound becomes calm. And take the leading tone close to the root.