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G-sharp minor

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G# minor
Relative keyB major
Parallel keyG# major
enharmonic:
Ab major
Enharmonic keyAb minor
Component pitches
G#, A#, B, C#, D#, E, F#
Also see: G sharp major, or G minor.

G sharp minor is a minor scale based on G sharp, consisting of the pitches G-sharp, A-sharp, B, C-sharp, D-sharp, E, F-sharp and G-sharp (natural minor scale, or F## for harmonic minor scale). [The note G-sharp is a half-tone between G & A.]

Its key signature has five sharps (see below: Scales and keys).

Its relative major is B major, and its parallel major is G sharp major, usually replaced by A flat major, since G sharp major, which would have eight sharps, is not normally used. Its enharmonic equivalent is A flat major.

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary.

Few symphonies are written in G sharp minor; among them are Nikolai Myaskovsky's Seventeenth Symphony, Christopher Schlegel's Fifth Symphony, and an abandoned work of juvenilia by Marc Blitzstein.

Despite the key rarely being used in orchestral music other than to modulate, it is not entirely uncommon in keyboard music, from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier to the sonatas of Scriabin. For orchestration of piano music, some theorists recommend transposing the music to G minor or A minor. If G sharp minor must absolutely be used, one should take care that B flat wind instruments be notated in B flat minor, rather than A sharp minor.

Well known works in this key

Classical pieces

Scales and keys

References

  • A. Morris, "Symphonies, Numbers And Keys" in Bob's Poetry Magazine, III.3, 2006.
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