Minor Scales: Natural, Harmonic, and Melodic

• Scales - An ordered collection of pitches in whole- and half-step patterns.

  • The word comes from Latin “scalae” meaning stairs.

• Natural minor scale - The sixth scale in the rotation of church modes.

• There are three forms of the minor scale and they all come from the natural minor scale which is:

  

• Three forms of minor - Natural, harmonic, and melodic.

  • Minor pentachord - Same first five notes that the three forms of minor start with.

• Natural form of minor - No alterations to the key signature.

• Harmonic form of minor - The 7th scale degree is raised both ascending and descending.

• Melodic form of minor - The 6th and 7th scale degrees are raised.

Scale Degree Names

• Scale degree - Each step of the scale.

• Tonic - The beginning pitch of the scale.

• Scale degree 1 - The tone on which the scale is built, the tonal center.

  • Do = Tonic

• Scale degree 2 - Above the tonic.

  • Re = Supertonic

• Scale degree 3 - Halfway between the tonic and dominant.

  • Mi = Mediant

• Scale degree 4 - A fifth below the tonic

  • Fa = Subdominant

• Scale degree 5 - Perfect fifth above the tonic

  • So (Sol) = Dominant

• Scale degree 6 - In between the subdominant and the tonic

  • La = Submediant

• Scale degree 7 - Half step below Do.

  • Ti = Leading tone

Minor Scales

• Natural minor scale

  • The 7th scale degree is a whole step below tonic, meaning it’s subtonic.

    

• Harmonic minor scale

  • The 7th scale degree is raised and a leading tone, it is one-half step below the tonic.

    

• Melodic minor scale

  • The 7th scale degree is leading and the 6th scale is the raised submediant.

Relative Keys: Determining Relative Minor Key and Notating Key Signatures

• Parallel keys - Major and minor keys with different key signature but same tonic.

• Relative keys - Major and minor scales that have the same pitches and key signature.

Minor Key Signatures

• Three forms of minor - Natural, harmonic, and melodic.

• Natural form of minor - No alterations to the key signature.

• Harmonic form of minor - The 7th scale degree is raised both ascending and descending.

• Melodic form of minor - The 6th and 7th scale degrees are raised.

Circle of Fifths for Minor Keys

Key Relationships: Parallel, Closely Related, and Distantly Related Keys

Parallel Keys

• Parallel keys - Keys that share the same tonic note but have different key signatures.

  • For example, the parallel key of C major is C minor.

• Parallel keys are said to have a "parallel" relationship because they share the same tonic note.

Closely Related Keys

• Closely related keys - Keys that have a small number of differences in their key signatures.

• The most closely related keys are the keys that share the most notes in common.

  • For example, the closely related keys of C major are G major, F major, D minor, and A minor.

• Closely related keys are said to have a "relative" relationship because they share many of the same notes.

Distantly Related Keys

• Distantly related keys - Keys that have a large number of differences in their key signatures.

• The most distantly related keys are the keys that share the fewest notes in common.

  • For example, the distantly related keys of C major are E major, Bb major, Ab minor, and F# minor.

• Distantly related keys are said to have a "distant" relationship because they share very few of the same notes.

Modulation

• Modulation - The process of changing from one key or tonal center to another.

  • Usually occurs to closely related keys because they have common chords between them.

  • Occurs within a phrase by using a chord common to both the old and new key or by changing tonal centers directly as a new phrase or section begins.

Other Scales: Chromatic, Whole-Tone, and Pentatonic

The Chromatic Scale

• Chromatic scale - Symmetrical scale with all pitches spaced a half step apart.

  • Sharps are used for the ascending scale.

  • Enharmonic equivalent flats are used for the descending scale.

Whole-Tone Scale

• Heptatonic scales - There are seven tones in the scale. Major and minor scales are heptatonic.

• Hexatonic scale - There are six tones in this scale. The whole-tone scale is hexatonic.

• Whole-tone scale - Each pitch is a whole step apart.

Pentatonic Scale

• Pentatonic scale - Has five tones. It contains no half steps or active tones.

  • Major pentatonic - To build it, in the Circle of Fifths, start from C up to 5 consecutive pitches.

  • Relative minor pentatonic - It uses the same pitch as the C pentatonic but it starts on A.

Interval Size and Quality

• Interval - The distance between two pitches.

  • They can be melodic or harmonic.

  • The exact interval size is described by quantity and quality.

    • Quality - Expressed by a number and determined by counting the distance between one letter name and the next letter name.

• A minor interval is one-half step smaller than major.

• Diminished interval - An interval that is one-half step smaller than perfect or minor.

• Augmented interval - An interval that is one-half step larger than major or perfect.

• Consonant intervals - Stable

• Dissonant intervals - Unstable, the impression of activity or tension.

Interval Inversion and Compound Intervals

• Inverted intervals - Intervals are inverted by transferring the lower note an octave higher or by transferring the higher note an octave lower.

  • Major intervals invert to minor intervals.

  • Augmented intervals invert to diminished intervals.

• Simple intervals - Intervals that are one octave or smaller in quantity.

  • They are expanded to a compound interval by adding seven

• Compound intervals - Intervals that are larger than an octave.

  • They are reduced to a simple interval by subtracting seven.

• Timbre - Determined by how the sound is produced, what the instrument is made of, and the range of an instrument.

Melodic Features

• Melody - A logical progression of pitches and rhythms. A linear succession of notes that form a recognizable unit, which is used to separate a melody from random pitches.

  • The melody is the most important part of a composition.

  • Melodies don’t always begin on the downbeat.

  • A good melody must have movement.

  • The best melodies are contoured and contained or limited in range usually within an octave.

  • Longer melodies use repetitions, have a distinct form and are built from simple motifs and short melodic phrases.

• Conjunct - When the melody uses stepwise motion.

• Disjunct - When the melody uses skipwise motion.

Melodic Transposition

• Motivic transformation - Changing or transforming the original motif by using these compositional devices:

  • Fragmentation - When a portion of a motif or a larger musical idea is used, often repeated, and/or varied.

  • Melodic sequence - A form of variation that refers to repeating the original motif starting on a different pitch.

  • Melodic inversion (Inversion) - The imitation of the melody performed upside down from the original melody.

    • It moves in the opposite direction by the same diatonic interval.

    • Mirror inversion - If the inverted intervals are exact.

  • Retrograde - When the melody is played backwards.

    • Retrograde inversion - It plays the pitches of the original motif backwards and inverted.

• Rhythmic transformation - Changes the motif or theme’s rhythm in order to vary it from previous statements of the motif.

  • Augmentation - A form of rhythmic variation where the pitches remain the same but the rhythms are equally lengthened (note values are made longer).

  • Diminution - The opposite of augmentation, note values are made shorter.

  • Rhythmic displacement - Keeps the original rhythmic structure intact but moves it to a different place in the measure.

Texture and Texture Types

• Texture - Basic element of music. How much is going on in the music at any given moment.

Types of Texture

• Monophonic - Has only one melodic line with no harmony or counterpoint.

• Homophonic - Has one melodic line that draws your attention. The other parts provide accompaniment.

  • Chordal homophony - Every line or voice moving together with exactly the same or nearly the same rhythm.

  • Melody with accompaniment - Clearly has only one melodic line, but the harmony is not limited to chords moving together.

• Ostinato - Short melodic, rhythmic, or harmonic pattern that is repeated throughout an entire composition or some portion of a composition.

• Ragtime - An American style of music that was popular at the turn of the 20th century.

• Sequence - The repeated melodic pattern at a different interval.

• Heterophonic - There’s only one melody but different variations of it are being sung or played at the same time.

Texture Devices

• Alberti bass - An accompaniment figure played on a keyboard instrument with the left hand. The chords are played as arpeggios or broken chords.

• Walking bass - A style of bass accompaniment or line that creates a feeling of regular quarter-note movement, similar to the regular alternation of feet while walking.

Polyphonic Textural Devices

• Polyphonic (Polyphony, Counterpoint, Contrapuntal) - If more than one independent melody is occurring at the same time.

  • Imitative - If the individual lines are similar in their shapes and sounds.

    • Fugue - A form of composition popular in the Baroque era, in which a theme or subject is introduced by one voice and is imitated by other voices in succession.

  • Nonimitative - If the voice shows little or no resemblance to each other.

  • Countermelody - A secondary melody or line written to be played simultaneously with a more prominent melody.

Other Textural Devices

• Solo - A single performer or a passage that is to be performed by a single performer.

• Soli - A directive to perform an indicated passage of a composition with an entire section of an ensemble.

  • Tutti - All members play.

Rhythmic Devices

• Syncopation - The rhythmic displacement of the expected strong beat created by using dots, rests, ties, accent marks, rhythm, and dynamics.

• Hemiola - A special type of syncopation where the bead is temporarily regrouped into twos.

Accents

• Accents - Markings used in music notation to indicate emphasis or stress on a particular note or beat.

• There are different types of accents:

• Regular accent - Indicated by a diagonal line above or below the note.

• Strong accent - Indicated by a vertical line above the note.

• Staccato accent - Indicated by a dot above or below the note, and it indicates that the note should be played short and detached.

Agogic Accent

• Agogic accent - A type of accent that is created by emphasizing the duration of a note.

  • It is indicated by a small dot placed above or below the note, and it indicates that the note should be played longer than the surrounding notes.

• Fermata - A symbol used in music notation to indicate that a note or rest should be held longer than its written value.

  • It is indicated by a dot with a curved line above or below it, and it is placed above or below the note or rest that it affects.

• Tenuto - A marking used in music notation to indicate that a note should be held for its full value.

  • It is indicated by a horizontal line above or below the note, and it indicates that the note should be played with a slight emphasis.

• Meter - The organization of beats into regular groups.

• There are different types of meter:

• Duple meter - Two beats per measure

• Triple meter - Three beats per measure

• Quadruple meter - Four beats per measure.

• Other meter types include:

• Compound meter - A combination of duple and triple meter.

• Irregular meter - It has an irregular grouping of beats.