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DATE: Sun, 06 Nov 1994 02:58:42 CST
From: ah5~fn.ysu.edu (George W. Miklas)
Subject: Re: MORE LA HARP NEWS / MINOR THEORY



>SOME MINOR THEORY
>Minor keys are based on scales having a flatted third.
This is vague. Actually, it is incorrect because a minor
scale is not different from a major scale simply on a flatted
third, but other intervalic changes as well.

You quote a "flatted third" as being a note in a minor scale.
This is an incorrect assumption as the third is always diatonic
even in your examples later in your post. Since the note
naturally occurs in the key signature, it is not an accurate
statement to call it a "flatted third."

>Example: C Major Chord: C, E, G; and C Minor Chord: C, Eb, G.
These are your examples from above. They do not exemplify
scales nor keys. They are merely triads.

>Melodic Minor scales have the third note flatted...
This statement is BLATANTLY incorrect. The MELODIC form of the
minor scale has one set of intervals for the ascending scale, and
another set of intervals for the decending scale. Here is the
corrected scale:

A B C D E F# G# A A G F E D C B A
acending decending

Please note that the decending scale is EXACTLY like the decending
natural minor scale while the ascending scale has tones which
are borrowed from the parallel major (which has the key signature of
three sharps F# C# G#).

Melodic minor scales cannot be played on diatonic harmonicas
because it is not a diatonic scale. It is a chromatic scale
because is uses "chromatic" tones (as in not diatonic) from
a major scale. Hence, this melodic minor scale will either be
played on a chromatic harmonica, two appropriately tuned diatonics.

>Natural Minor scales (also known as Aeolian scales) have the third, sixth and
>seventh notes flatted. Example: C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C.
Again, this is vague. The scale is simply a diatonic minor scale in
the key signature of three flats. PLEASE, your definition would
be confusing because a lay person might think that you can take a
major and make it minor by changing three notes when there is much
more involved in changing modes than simply three notes. While a
music theretician may make the inference that you have made here,
lets not use poor pedagogy where it can be avoided.

>Harmonic Minor scales have the third and sixth notes flatted. Example: C, D,
>Eb, F, G, Ab, B, C.
Again, incorrect! The scale is diatonic in the key signature with
a RAISED SEVENTH, the leading tone. It is not happenstance that
the seventh is raised, it is deliberate.

>Dorian scales have the third and seventh notes flatted. Example: C, D, Eb,
>F, G, A, Bb, C.
Again, diatonic in the key, based on the second scale degree.

>RELATIVE MINOR KEYS
>
>To find the relative minor key of a given major key, count back three
>semitones from the major key. Example: if the major is C, count back three
>semitones to B, Bb and A. So A Minor is the relative minor of C Major.
> Another example: from key of A major, count back three semitones to Ab, G
>and F#, so F# Minor is the relative minor of A Major.
This is a good description, and pedagogically sound.


It is my view that music theory is exact and proven. The basis of my
pedagogical thought processes can be found in the following texts:

GROUT/PALISKA: The History of Western Music
HARDER: Fundamentals of Music, vols 1 and 2.
GROVES: Dictionary of Music and Musicians
The Harvard Dictionary of Music

These texts are available at most public libraries.


George Miklas, Bass Harmonicat