Piano help! How can you tell if...?!
Question: Piano help! How can you tell if!.!.!.!?
it's a Harmonic, Melodic, or Natural minor scale!?Www@Enter-QA@Com
Answers:
Natural: half-steps between note 2&3 and 5&6 (on the way up)!.
Harmonic: like natural, except the 7th note is raised a half-step!. Sounds eerie!.
Melodic: 6th and 7th note raised a half-step on the way up!. It is played natural on the way down!. Sounds almost major on the way up!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
Harmonic: like natural, except the 7th note is raised a half-step!. Sounds eerie!.
Melodic: 6th and 7th note raised a half-step on the way up!. It is played natural on the way down!. Sounds almost major on the way up!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
You kind of want to think of the Melodic and Harmonic minors as variations on the natural minor!. Just to make sure, the natural minor is (starting from the root note); whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step!.
When composers write in a minor key, they find that the best way to resolve to the tonic is to have that very unstable subtonic, or the major seventh!. This creates a greater sense of leading towards a resolution than the lowered (minor) seventh of the natural minor scale!. So, when the music needs to resolve to the tonic, the seventh is raised in the harmonies (not in the melody) to create that lead to the tonic!. Thus, we have the Harmonic Minor!.
In the case of the Melodic, we still need to have that leading tone of a major seventh when approaching the tonic from below, but playing the scale with only the seventh raised creates an awful jump between the lowered sixth and the raised seventh, an interval of a minor third!. You're not really supposed to have anything greater than a major second (whole step) in any diatonic scale, so we have to raise the sixth also, to even things up!. Keep in mind, though, this only applies when we're talking about the melody, which needs to flow smoothly!. In the harmony, there can be jumps between a chord based on a minor sixth and a major seventh, and no one will notice!. It actually sounds quite good (try playing this: d-dim, Gmaj7, c-min)!. It's only when dealing with voice leading in the melody that the Melodic scale is necessary!.
There are many good examples of this in Baroque music, particularly (of course) Bach!. Check out his fugues or cantatas, and try to follow where each voice goes!. You'll find that he may use a natural minor scale when going downwards, but use a melodic immediately afterwards to come back up!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
When composers write in a minor key, they find that the best way to resolve to the tonic is to have that very unstable subtonic, or the major seventh!. This creates a greater sense of leading towards a resolution than the lowered (minor) seventh of the natural minor scale!. So, when the music needs to resolve to the tonic, the seventh is raised in the harmonies (not in the melody) to create that lead to the tonic!. Thus, we have the Harmonic Minor!.
In the case of the Melodic, we still need to have that leading tone of a major seventh when approaching the tonic from below, but playing the scale with only the seventh raised creates an awful jump between the lowered sixth and the raised seventh, an interval of a minor third!. You're not really supposed to have anything greater than a major second (whole step) in any diatonic scale, so we have to raise the sixth also, to even things up!. Keep in mind, though, this only applies when we're talking about the melody, which needs to flow smoothly!. In the harmony, there can be jumps between a chord based on a minor sixth and a major seventh, and no one will notice!. It actually sounds quite good (try playing this: d-dim, Gmaj7, c-min)!. It's only when dealing with voice leading in the melody that the Melodic scale is necessary!.
There are many good examples of this in Baroque music, particularly (of course) Bach!. Check out his fugues or cantatas, and try to follow where each voice goes!. You'll find that he may use a natural minor scale when going downwards, but use a melodic immediately afterwards to come back up!.Www@Enter-QA@Com