What is the melodic minor scale?
There are 3 main types of minor scales used in western music. The natural minor, which is directly related to the major scale, the harmonic minor which involves raising the 7th degree of a natural minor scale and finally the melodic minor which involves raising the 6th and 7th degrees of the natural minor scale.
Today, we are focusing on the melodic minor scale. The easiest way to understand the melodic minor scale is if you think of it as a major scale, with a minor 3rd instead of a major 3rd . This is easier than thinking of the scale in the way it is usually taught and the way I mentioned earlier (raise the 6th and 7th degrees of the natural minor scale). This takes too much brain power for the same result you could get just by thinking of it as a major scale with a minor 3rd.
This one note difference between the major and melodic minor scale is extremely powerful and gives the melodic minor scale a very strong and characteristic sound, creating a whole new palette of colour. The palette of colour is organized, so the same way we derive modes from the major scale we can also derive modes from the melodic minor scale. This also means that just like with major scale modes, there is a chord inside each melodic minor scale mode. Like a kinder surprise– the chocolate is the mode, the toy is the chord. The web of scale, mode and chord relationships or the kinder surprise found within melodic minor is referred to as Melodic Minor Scale Harmony, and is large enough to be its own branch of study within music theory.
E melodic minor (same as E major just with a minor 3rd, a G instead of G#)
Melodic minor scale harmony is used widely in jazz to derive rich and colourful chords. For example, altered dominant chords, dominant sharp 11 chords and dominant flat 13 chords. The minor chords available in melodic minor also offer more depth, colour, dissonance and crunch.
Examples of dominant chord sounds found in melodic minor:
From Ab melodic minor
From G melodic minor
From Bb melodic minor
(Stay tuned for an article on the modes and chords of melodic minor!)
Melodies written using melodic minor are very memorable and unique. Let us look at some examples.
The 5th measure of jazz standard “Nica’s Dream” by Horace Silver uses the Bb melodic minor scale. Other melodic minor harmony is used in the song as well.
In the intense part of Shedryk (Carol of the Bells) by Mykola Leontovych.
(0:24 of this recording https://youtu.be/PvgSKnrj62g?t=24 )
The top melody line in this excerpt starts by using the G natural minor scale, and in the last measure becomes G melodic minor by changing the Eb to E (natural 6th ) and F to F# (Major 7th) of G melodic minor.
At first it seems as though the melody in the last measure is just D dominant, but if we look further, we see a flat 13 (Bb) in the top voice as well as in the other voices. Taking all of this into consideration, this is definitely G melodic minor over D and not D7. For two main reasons: 1) there is no C (the 7th of D7) which is not necessary, but would convince us more and 2) there is a clear outline of Gm in the two lower voices.
Another example is found right at the beginning of “Bourrée in E Minor” by J. S. Bach BWV996
This is an example that clearly exemplifies the melodic minor scale, specifically in the way classical musicians use the scale. What classical musicians do is they play the melodic minor scale on the way up and then when coming down they play the natural minor scale (a.k.a they make the 6th and 7th degrees of the scale natural). So, the melodic minor scale that classical musicians practice and use is actually a combination scale, of melodic minor on the way up and natural minor on the way down. In the last measure of this example, you can see E melodic minor being played ascending (going up)– B is the 5th, C# is the 6th, and D# is the 7th, and the E natural minor played descending (going down)– D is the natural 7th and C is the natural 6th.
There are many loose answers as to why this happens. One explanation is that it might be easier to sing the natural minor going down, which was important in the old days of classical choir music, church music, etc. Another explanation is that the raised 6th and 7th of the melodic minor scale help to establish the key, by providing a strong approach up to the tonic of the scale (you are essentially outlining a dominant chord when you play the last part of a melodic minor scale). So then going down, after implying this dominant sound you need some sort of release for the tension, so you resolve to the E natural minor sound going down, which feels more grounding than going down the E melodic minor. You can think of this classical form of playing melodic minor almost like a small progression within a scale. Taking E melodic minor as an example:
That is all for now. Stay tuned for more articles on melodic minor modes and chords!
Have a question? Email me: tetyanahar@gmail.com
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