The minor key has the characteristics of balanced structure, regular rhythm, delicate and gentle melody.

Most minor tunes are in the form of stanza songs, with multiple verses in one song, often using time sequences such as four seasons, five o'clock, and twelve o'clock, with multi-faceted and detailed statements. In order to meet the needs of multiple paragraphs of words, its tunes express a certain emotion (either soft, sad, or cheerful) in a general and concise way. It has strong melodic nature, smooth melody, gentle twists, rich and changeable melody lines, and strong expressive power.

The rhythm of the minor key is regular, and the rhythm patterns are rich and varied. The singing forms are mostly solo, followed by duet and one-lead harmony. Urban minors often have the accompaniment of string instruments, the use of introductions and transitions, as well as the decoration of musical instruments in the accompaniment, and the support of the cavity, etc., which make the minor music more beautiful and moving.

The lyrics of minor tunes have various formats: in addition to seven-character sentences, there are also long and short sentence structures. In addition to the common two- and four-sentence sentences, there are also non-dual structures such as three-sentence and five-sentence sentences; with the addition of lining words The rich variety and rhythmic structure make the musical form structure of minor tunes more mature and full of changes compared with chants and folk songs.

The history of minor tunes

The emergence and development of minor tunes have gone through a long period of time. Some narrative chapters in the "Book of Songs" have given birth to certain elements of this genre. . The Xianghe song of the Han Dynasty is a singing form with silk and bamboo accompaniment. It is obviously different from the tutu ballad (songs such as a cappella). The Xianghe song can be said to be one of the sources of minor tunes.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, time-sequential Yuefu folk songs such as "Song of the Four O'clock at Midnight" and "Song of Willows on Moon Festival" appeared among the people. From these, we can see several traditional minor tunes that were widely spread in later generations. Such as the posture structure principles of the four seasons, the fifth month, and the twelve months. By the Sui and Tang Dynasties, more folk songs were selected and refined, and became part of rap, song and dance performances, called tunes, which were also the early forms of minor-key genres.