Borrowings and Classic Harmonic Progressions
Minor as a colour source — borrowings, circle of fifths, chaconne and Neapolitan chord.
Chopin had an extraordinary ability to 'borrow' minor chords in a major key to instantly shift the emotional color of a phrase. His contemporaries described the effect as a cloud p…
À retenir : We don't change key — we temporarily change the lighting.
The minor scale and its two forms
The natural minor scale derives from the major scale — it is built starting from its 6th degree. But it has a problem: its tritone is not functional. It does not push toward the tonic, which deprives the dominant chord of its characteristic tension.
The solution: the harmonic minor scale, which raises the 7th degree by a half step. In C minor, B♭ becomes B natural. The dominant chord becomes G7 — with the tritone B–F resolving to C–E. The leading tone is restored.
Comparison in C minor
| Scale | Structure | Notes (C minor) | Issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural | T–½–T–T–½–T–T | C D Eb F G Ab Bb | No leading tone, Gm instead of G7 |
| Harmonic | T–½–T–T–½–1½–½ | C D Eb F G Ab B | Augmented interval Ab–B (1½ tones) |
The 7 chords of C minor
Click a degree to hear it.