It consists of a primary form, the diatonic minor (also known as the natural minor), and two composite forms that incorporate elements of the diatonic major scale. The minor mode is less straightforward than the major mode. When a melody descends through a minor scale, there is no longer a need for the raised scale degrees and the adjusted pitches typically revert back to their diatonic forms.Įxample 16–9 summarizes the melodic minor composite, with the adjusted forms of scale degrees \hat6 and \hat7 in the scalar ascent, and the diatonic forms of those degrees in the descent. The interval between \hat6 and \hat7 contracts to become a major second, thereby smoothing out the melodic line, and the whole-step distance between \hat5 and \hat6 eliminates the downward pull of \hat6 toward \hat5. By raising scale degree \hat6, one may avoid both of these issues. Furthermore, scale degree \hat6 in minor is a half-step away from scale degree \hat5 and thus tends strongly toward scale degree \hat5. In the harmonic minor composite, the augmented second disrupts the otherwise smooth flow of half- and whole-step motion in the melodic ascent. Consider, for example, the following example:Īugmented intervals are difficult to sing, sound awkward in the tonal style, and are therefore generally avoided. The differences become apparent when the natural minor scale is used in melodies and harmonic progressions. In Chapter 7 we discussed how the diatonic minor scale differs from the major scale. As we will see, these variants incorporate tonality-defining characteristics of the major scale. In each case, we will discuss the various musical contexts in which it appears as well as the factors motivating a composer to use it.
In this chapter, we will describe two adjusted forms of this scale. There are, in other words, several commonly used variants of the minor scale. In practice, however, composers tend to make small melodic and harmonic adjustments to make the minor scale sound and function more like its major counterpart. We refer to the scale shown above as the natural or diatonic minor since it consists of only those pitches specified by the key signature.
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