In the last two music theory lessons we learned about the three minor scale forms: the natural, harmonic and melodic minor scales. This is the final lesson on minor scales, and as promised, I’m going to show you all three forms of the minor scales operating in a single passage of music.

The excerpt is from the third movement of  Johann Sebastian Bach’s Italian Concerto. The movement as a whole is in F major, but the passage we’ll be looking at (measures  85-104) is in D minor. So let’s begin by making sure we know what three scales we’re going to be talking about:

I’ve divided the excerpt into short audio-visual clips to make it easier for you to see and hear the scales. At the end of the lesson, we’ll listen to the entire excerpt.

From measures 85 to 92, the left hand plays the melody, and Bach uses the melodic minor scale:

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We say a musical voice is melodic in character when it moves primarily by step, that is from one note on the staff to the next, either up or down. If you study the melody above, you’ll see that it moves mostly by step, hence Bach uses the D melodic minor scale. Only in measure 89 does he deviate from it with a B-flat.

Now we’ll listen to the right hand of the same measures:

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If you sift through these pitches, you will discover that all of them are from the D harmonic minor scale. And when you compare the right hand with the left hand, you’ll see also that the right hand primarily has skips, as opposed to steps. When a voice has a lot of skips, it is usually outlining chords. The right hand, then,  is actually providing harmony to the melody in the left hand. Because of the harmonic character of the right hand, Bach uses notes from the harmonic minor scale. Not all music in a minor mode is this clear-cut, but my point is that there is a harmonic nature to the harmonic minor scale, and a melodic nature to the melodic minor scale, as this passage demonstrates.

Now let’s put the hands together:

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Don’t worry about the roman numerals under the staff if you don’t know what they mean. (I put them there for those who might be interested.) They are indicating the implied harmonies for the passage. And those implications come mostly from what is going on in the right hand.

The measure where we left off (m. 92) is a perfect demonstration of the traditional concept of the melodic minor scale:

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Here, the right hand, playing more melodically than before, descends with a natural minor scale, while the left hands ascends, playing a melodic minor scale. Musical passages, such as this one, are why we traditionally say that the melodic minor has an ascending and a descending form.

Moving on to the next four measures (mm. 93-96), both hands play equally important melodies, and, barring one B-flat in the right hand at the end of measure 96, both are comprised exclusively of the melodic minor scale:

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Then, the right hand returns to providing harmonic support, and to the harmonic minor scale. (Take note of the B-flat whole notes at measures 97 and 99.) We can’t tell what scale form the left hand is playing because there are no Bs:

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One more example before we put it all together: The left hand at measures 101-102 has what is called a step progression. A step progression is where there is stepwise motion, but with intervening notes, usually helping to define the harmony. The circled notes are the step progression. Although it doesn’t start on D, it is a D melodic minor scale. Do you remember I said that most textbooks (including mine) teach that the melodic minor scale has an ascending form and a descending form, the latter being a natural minor scale? This example is the ascending form of the melodic minor scale, but it is actually  descending!

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Now let’s listen to the entire passage. Below is a link to an annotated score of measures 85-104, which will open in a new tab. Click the link, then switch back to this tab and click the play button. It should continue to play when you switch back to the tab with the musical score. The score says “adapted.” The only thing adapted is that I added a measure 105 to bring the music to a cadence. If you know anything about fast movements from the Baroque period, you’ll know that the rhythmic activity doesn’t stop until  it gets to the end!

J.S. Bach, Italian Concerto, Presto (Annotated score, measures 85-104))

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You can download a wonderful performance of the entire piece or just this movement here:

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Lessons Table of Contents

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In this lesson, we’ll cover the last two minor scale forms: the harmonic minor, and the melodic minor scales. I’m going to treat this music theory lesson, as I did the Natural Minor Scale Lesson : just the facts. That is, I’ll show you how to write these two musical scale forms using the same methods we used for the natural minor scale: the Relative Minor Method and the Parallel Minor Method. Then, in the next lesson, I’m going to show you how all three of these scales operate in an actual piece of music.

Harmonic Minor Scale

Try this experiment. Play a major scale for someone and stop on :

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You’ll probably get a response something to the effect of, “Well, finish it!” has a strong tendency to resolve to , and is called the leading tone, referring to this tendency. The natural minor scale, on the other hand, doesn’t have this tendency because to is a whole step. Composers throughout the centuries have traditionally created the tendency in the natural minor scale by raising . The result is the harmonic minor scale:

The following audio example plays a natural minor scale followed by a harmonic minor scale. Pay attention to the differences in sound. Better yet, try singing these scales. In the harmonic minor scale, the tendency of to resolve to  is preserved. However, raising it creates an awkward and peculiar sounding augmented 2^nd between and :

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The Relative Minor Method for Spelling Harmonic Minor Scales

The harmonic minor scale is a natural minor scale with raised by half step, creating a half step between and and an augmented second between  and .

To write a harmonic minor scale, spell the natural minor scale using the  Relative Minor Method outlined in the previous lesson. Then raise of the natural minor scale. As before, raising means doing whatever is necessary to make it a half step higher. If is natural, make it sharp; if it is flat, make it natural; if it is sharp, make it a double-sharp. Here are some examples:

The Parallel Minor Method for Spelling Harmonic Minor Scales

With this method of writing a harmonic minor scale, you begin with a major scale, then lower  and :

The accidental before the B in the C harmonic minor scale above is there for emphasis and not necessary.  However, when using a key signature, you must remember to provide the accidental on to achieve the harmonic minor scale:

Melodic Minor Scale

Traditionally, the melodic minor scale has an ascending form and a descending form. Practically every theory textbook teaches it this way, including my music theory text, Materials of Music. However, in this lesson, I’m going to break with tradition, and not make a distinction between an ascending and descending melodic minor scale for  two reasons:

1. The descending form of a melodic minor scale is nothing more than a descending natural minor scale.
2. There are numerous examples in music literature where the ascending form of the melodic minor scale is descending! (We’ll see some in the next lesson.)

The Relative Minor Method for Spelling Melodic Minor Scales

The melodic minor scale has half steps between  and , and and . It is a natural minor scale with and raised by a half step. Composers use this scale in minor melodies to achieve a smoother melody, since raising removes the augmented second.  To write a melodic minor scale, spell the natural minor scale using the Relative Minor Method as usual. Then raise and a half step. As before, this means doing whatever is necessary to make these scale degrees a half step higher.

Now listen to the natural minor scale, followed by a harmonic minor scale, and finally a melodic minor scale. Notice how the melodic minor scale smooths the melodic line by removing the augmented 6^th.

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The Parallel Minor Method for Spelling Harmonic Minor Scales

The melodic minor scale is a major scale with a lowered . This makes converting a major scale to a melodic minor easy: start with a major scale, then lower :

And again, when using a key signature, you must use accidentals on and :

Things to Remember

Remember, scales use every letter of the musical alphabet. That’s why certain scales have odd spellings at first glance. For example, G-sharp melodic minor has an E-sharp and F-double sharp:

G harmonic minor scale has a flat followed by a sharp:

The table below summarizes both methods of spelling all forms of the minor scales. Remember, don’t confuse the two methods. Choose the method that is easiest for you when learning the minor scales. If you prefer the Parallel Minor Method, you will discover that there are certain minor scales that don’t have corresponding major scales (e.g., G-sharp minor). When this happens, you will have to resort to the Relative Minor Method. Once you have chosen a method, carefully follow the steps, being sure not to crossover to the other method in the process.

And finally, remember that these lessons are techniques to learn the minor scales, but the goal is to know the minor scales!

Next : The Minor Scales: Bach in Action!

Download a pdf copy of this table.
Download a pdf copy of all of the minor scales.
Download a pdf copy of the circle of fifths chart.

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Minor Scales, Lesson 3

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