Understanding Basic Music Theory - Catherine Schmidt-Jones [50]
Figure 4.24. Comparing Major and Minor Scale Patterns
The interval patterns for major and natural minor scales are basically the same pattern starting at different points.
It is easy to predict where the relative minor of a major key can be found. Notice that the pattern for minor scales overlaps the pattern for major scales. In other words, they are the same pattern starting in a different place. (If the patterns were very different, minor key signatures would not be the same as major key signatures.) The pattern for the minor scale starts a half step plus a whole step lower than the major scale pattern, so a relative minor is always three half steps lower than its relative major. For example, C minor has the same key signature as E flat major, since E flat is a minor third higher than C.
Figure 4.25. Relative Minor
The C major and C minor scales start on the same note, but have different key signatures. C minor and E flat major start on different notes, but have the same key signature. C minor is the relative minor of E flat major.
Exercise 4.4.2. (Go to Solution)
What are the relative majors of the minor keys in Figure 4.23?
Harmonic and Melodic Minor Scales
Note
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All of the scales above are natural minor scales. They contain only the notes in the minor key signature. There are two other kinds of minor scales that are commonly used, both of which include notes that are not in the key signature. The harmonic minor scale raises the seventh note of the scale by one half step, whether you are going up or down the scale. Harmonies in minor keys often use this raised seventh tone in order to make the music feel more strongly centered on the tonic. (Please see Beginning Harmonic Analysis for more about this.) In the melodic minor scale, the sixth and seventh notes of the scale are each raised by one half step when going up the scale, but return to the natural minor when going down the scale. Melodies in minor keys often use this particular pattern of accidentals, so instrumentalists find it useful to practice melodic minor scales.
Figure 4.26. Comparing Types of Minor Scales
Listen to the differences between the natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales.
Exercise 4.4.3. (Go to Solution)
Rewrite each scale from Figure 4.23 as an ascending harmonic minor scale.
Exercise 4.4.4. (Go to Solution)
Rewrite each scale from Figure 4.23 as an ascending and descending melodic minor scale.
Jazz and "Dorian Minor"
Major and minor scales are traditionally the basis for Western Music, but jazz theory also recognizes other scales, based on the medieval church modes, which are very useful for improvisation. One of the most useful of these is the scale based on the dorian mode, which is often called the dorian minor, since it has a basically minor sound. Like any minor scale, dorian minor may start on any note, but like dorian mode, it is often illustrated as natural notes beginning on d.
Figure 4.27. Dorian Minor
The "dorian minor" can be written as a scale of natural notes starting on d. Any scale with this interval pattern can be called a "dorian minor scale".
Comparing this scale to the natural minor scale makes it easy to see why the dorian mode sounds minor; only one note is different.
Figure 4.28. Comparing Dorian and Natural Minors
You may find it helpful to notice that the "relative major" of the Dorian begins one whole step lower. (So, for example, D Dorian has the same key signature as C major.) In fact, the reason that Dorian is so useful in jazz is that it is the scale used for improvising while a ii chord is being played (for example, while a d minor chord is played in the key of C major), a chord which is very common in jazz. (See Beginning Harmonic Analysis for more about how chords are classified within a key.) The student who is interested in modal jazz will eventually become