16. Navigating Relative and Parallel in the Circle of Fifths

 In the key of “{E} | {major}”—that doesn’t mean anything technical, I’ve just written it that way to prove a point—we see we have two relevant pieces of information: the root is E, and it’s a major key. Those two pieces of information, together, encode “E F# G# A B C# D# E.”

It is very natural, then, to ask: one or both of the following questions:

  • What happens when I keep the four sharps of E major, but make the key minor?
  • What happens when I keep the root of E major, but make the key minor?

Both of these keys (incidentally, C# minor and E minor, for 1 and for 2) share deep similarities to, and are therefore very closely linked to, E major (and vice versa.

The key in scenario 1, already revealed to be C# minor, is called the relative key of E major. (It is also perfectly correct to say that E major is the relative key of C# minor.) Relative keys differ in their tonics but have the same key signatures. On the other hand, the key in scenario 2, already revealed to be E minor, is called the parallel key of E major. Parallel keys have the same tonics, but differ in their key signatures.

For both parallel and relative keys, there are easy rules

  • For the parallel minor of a major, move 3 spaces counter-clockwise, and from the outside/major track to the inside/minor track.
  • For the parallel major of a minor, move 3 spaces clockwise, and from the inside/minor track to the outside/major track
  • For the relative major of a minor, stay where you are, and move from the inside to the outside
  • For the relative minor of a major, stay where you are and move from the outside to the inside.

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