Minor scale based on the accidentals of the "natural" minor scale, not on those of the harmonic or melodic minor scales. For example, a piece in E minor will have one sharp in its key signature because the E natural minor scale has one sharp (F). Major and minor keys that share the same key signature are "relative" to each other. For instance, F major is the relative major of D minor since both have key signatures with one flat. Since the natural minor scale is built on the 6th degree of the major scale, the tonic of the relative minor is
Prelude in A-flat major (Rachmaninoff) 9–18, the section is restated though a transient modulation to E major (at measure 15). An imperfect cadence in the tonic bridges the transitory gap in measure 18 to the B section in E flat. Measures 19–20 introduce a variant of the main motive. Now in a new key, the bass melody changes, descending chromatically in an eighth-note figure. Measure 19 A transition section comes together though the combination of ascending and descending chromatic scale fragments at measures 31–41. Vertiginous modulations swing through E flat – G – C – F – A flat and B flat, before settling into