Major Minor

If you come from a cultural background that is not steeped in "Western Tonal Music" (and find it tricky to hear the exact difference between "major" and "minor"), you can try to play around with "minor chords" (e.g., C, E-flat and G) all over the piano, with the right pedal pressed down firmly, while consciously thinking

"dark deep music"

Then lift and depress the right pedal and play "C E G" in the same manner, while thinking

"bright music".

Make sure to sing through those notes up and down (C E G, G E C). Fill in, too: C D E F G - G F E D C. (and in the minor: C D Eb F G F Eb D C) 

Listen to examples in a "minor":

*Chopin's Funeral March

*Chopin's Prelude in C Minor

Also, listen to known examples "in a major then minor", which contrast the two characters:

*Chopin's Prelude in Db Major - it goes into the minor in the middle (around 1m25s)

The opposite - pieces that begin in the Minor and then move to Major):

*Mozart's Rondo alla turca (around 0m45s, and then keeps changing throughout the piece)

*Beethoven's Sonata No.12, Op. 26, 3rd Movement 'funeral march' - starts in the minor, goes into the major with drum rolls and heroic fanfares

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