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Hey @the-old-coach ;
I didn’t really carefully read everything in you original post. I didn’t even look at anyone else’s comments. Why? Because I refuse to listen to the confusing crap that music educators in this country try to feed us. And by “music educators”, I’m talking the academics in the colleges and universities. Tony is a victim of this garbage just like the rest of us.
Now, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A MINOR KEY. PERIOD.
Alright, so, there is a minor scale, or minor mode, which ever word you choose to use. Just replace the work “key” with scale or mode.
Now, how does this help you and the confusion you are having, Mark? Simple, a key is a specific collection of 7 notes. It doesn’t matter which note you start with and use as your tonal center or “home base”. What that means is the all the modes, or scales, use the same 7 notes and the same 7 chords. (I can almost here the AH-HA! in you head.)
Now, don’t get confused about the major scale, it is not the key either. The key is the 7 notes, period. The 7 notes gives you 7 chords. All the scales, including the major and minor use these same 7 notes and 7 chords. (I know, I’m repeating myself.) So the process is the same. You find the notes that work with the song and you verify by playing the scale, by which we really mean, the 7 notes. Once you have the “key”, that is the 7 notes that fit, you can start trying to identify which of the notes are being repeated most often.
But even if you can’t, all you have to do is play the scale starting on the minor root and see if that “feels” right. If not, play the scale starting on the major root and see if that feels right.
Let me repeat myself: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A MINOR KEY. This causes a great amount of confusion. If anyone cares, I can prove that using harmonics, or math or physics. It’s reality, not opinion. The major scale root is the fundamental note of the 7 notes. That’s why it was appropriate to name the key after the major scale root. However, the major scale is a mode, or scale. A scale determines what note is the root. The key does not. The name denotes the fundamental note, and that’s why the major scale sounds the most resolved. But it’s not telling you to use that root. Any of the notes can be a root for your songs or scales.
Now that I have that out of the way, ask any questions you still have or new questions that this raises.
MG 😀