Forum: music.stackexchange.com
Tags: <theory><notation><key>
Title: Capitalization of key names (C Minor vs. c minor)
Question: I was taught when I was young that minor key names should be written with the note in lowercase, as well as the word "minor". Nowadays on recordings, etc., I usually see both capitalized.  What was the original reason for this rule, and why has it (apparently) fallen out of favor?

Answers:
sents: text: If you actually write out "C major" and "C minor", then there's no need to further distinguish them via capitalization; your meaning is already clear.
text: So I agree with Raskolnikov in the comments that "C/c" is useful when you drop "major/minor" altogether.
text: However, to make it more clear, I usually use and see used "C" (or rarely "CM") for the major and "Cm" for the minor.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/None/
score: 6
sents: text: I still see it applied for modes in chord notations, and it echoes the use of the distinction of M/m for Maximum and minimum in mathematical shorthand.
text: It might be a kind of political correctness: all modes are created equal, they should not be typographically discriminated.
text: None of them should have an initial uppercase when others have only lowercases, c minor is as respectable as A Major, and there are other scales and modes.
text: A related question is do you use a uppercase or a lowercase "d" with Bach's Toccata in Dorian mode BWV 538?
text: Most recent recordings do not respect Dorian as a mode, they only present it as a surname, like a dedication: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 538 "Dorian" Perhaps one will someday ask : Who was Dorian?
text: And who was she to J.-S. Bach?
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/48/ogerard
score: 4
sents: text: As suggested in my comment on the question, it seems to be a German key naming convention.
text: If you look at http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-Moll they call it "c-Moll" (note lowercase) or "c" (note lowercase) or "Cm".
text: In contrast: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-Dur is called "C-Dur" (note uppercase) or "C" (note uppercase).
text: In other words: c-Moll vs C-Dur or c vs C or Cm vs C. That would suggest the convention is still alive in Germany (and was possibly always considered the "German style")
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/306/James Tauber
score: 3
sents: text: Most answers address the major/minor capitalization, but there's one vital reason, not yet discussed in this thread, for always capitalizing the tonic: Imagine
text: we're talking about the key of "a minor.
text: " If we don't capitalize that tonic, a certain subset of readers are destined to have some confusion (however momentary) when they read: With the appearance of a minor, the sound of a minor triad is no longer unexpected.
text: As such, we capitalize the tonic A, even if it's in minor, to prevent any confusion between the tonic pitch "A" and the indefinite article "a": With the appearance of A minor, the sound of a minor triad is no longer unexpected.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/21766/Richard
score: 2
sents: text: I think it comes from the German practice as well, since German musicians were quite the standard-setters up to the 19th century.
text: That said, even though it's implied in the 'shorthand' notation that C represents a major and c a minor chord, I prefer to use C and Cm when writing, for absolute clarity.
text: The 'shorthand' notation, however, still pops here and there, when space is limited (e.g., when picking patch/combo names to save to my keyboard).
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/518/Gustavo Mori
score: 1
sents: text: In German songbooks it is still somewhat customary to write C and c for major and minor, respectively.
text: This is somewhat annoying to accordionists who write C for a C bass note, c for a C major chord and cm for C minor (and c+em for Cmaj7 because there are only chord buttons for the former).
text: So the customary oom-pah accompaniment goes C c G c C c G c on accordion, with capital letters indicating single bass notes (in a lower octave) and lowercase letters indicating chords.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/42983/user42983
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
If you actually write out "C major" and "C minor", then there's no need to further distinguish them via capitalization; your meaning is already clear.  
If you write out "C major" and "C minor", then there's no need to further distinguish them via capitalization; your meaning is already clear.