A-flat minor

A-flat minor is a minor scale based on A♭, consisting of the pitches A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭, E♭, F♭, and G♭. Its key signature has seven flats. Its relative major is C-flat major (or enharmonically B major), its parallel major is A-flat major, and its enharmonic equivalent is G-sharp minor.

A-flat minor
{ \new Staff \with{ \magnifyStaff #3/2 } << \time 2/16 \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f { \clef treble \key aes \minor s16 \clef bass \key aes \minor s16 } >> }
Relative keyC-flat major
Parallel keyA-flat major
Dominant keyE-flat minor
SubdominantD-flat minor (theoretical)
→enharmonic: C-sharp minor
EnharmonicG-sharp minor
Component pitches
A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭, E♭, F♭, G♭


The A-flat natural minor scale is:

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \key aes \minor \time 7/4 aes4^\markup { Natural minor scale } bes ces des es fes ges aes ges fes es des ces bes aes2 \clef bass \key aes \minor } }

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The A-flat harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \key aes \minor \time 7/4 aes4^\markup { Harmonic minor scale } bes ces des es fes g aes g fes es des ces bes aes2 } }
{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \clef treble \key aes \minor \time 7/4 aes4^\markup { Melodic minor scale (ascending and descending) } bes ces des es f g aes ges! fes! es des ces bes aes2 } }

Scale Degree Chords

Music in A-flat minor

Although A-flat minor occurs in modulation in works in other keys, it is only rarely used as the principal key of a piece of music. Some well-known uses of the key in classical and romantic music include:

See also: List of symphonies in A-flat minor

More often, pieces in a minor mode that have A-flat's pitch as tonic are notated in the enharmonic key, G-sharp minor, because that key has just five sharps as opposed to the seven flats of A-flat minor.

In some scores, the A-flat minor key signature in the bass clef is written with the flat for the F on the second line from the top.[nb 1]

Notes
  1. An example of this is the bass clef staff of the harp parts in the Jupiter movement of Gustav Holst's orchestral suite The Planets.[3]

References
  1. Mahler, Gustav. Symphony No. 9 in Full Score, Dover, ISBN 0-486-27492-6 (1993), pp. 116–119.
  2. Animated score on YouTube, Charles Koechlin's Partita for Chamber Orchestra, Op. 205
  3. Holst, Gustav. The Planets in Full Score, Dover, ISBN 0-486-29277-0 (1996), p. 109.
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