[Smt-talk] Harmonic and Melodic Scales

[Nicolas Meeùs]

Dear colleagues,

I won't argue too much about the names given in America or elsewhere, in 
English or other languages, to various scales. I always found these 
names somewhat ridiculous, starting with 'harmonic' and 'melodic' minor, 
supposedly referring to the minor scale as used 'in harmony' /vs/ 'in 
melody', followed by 'harmonic'and 'melodic'major, then 'major-minor'(or 
'minor-major'), etc. I do not question the historical existence of these 
terms (even although they varied from one language to another), I 
question what they imply, namely that portions of tonal works are 
written in this or that particular scale, while the obvious truth (?) is 
that our scales -- or more precisely some of their degrees -- are 
inherently movable.

What I want to question, however, is the idea that this may have 
anything to do with modes, Oriental, Arabic, Indian, or anything of the 
kind. To call them "Gipsy", "Hungarian", 'Byzantine", "Arabic", "Hijaz", 
etc., is but the expression of Occidental fantasies about Oriental or 
other exotic musics. To claim that such scales may be or have been used 
in popular musics of the East is naïve or mistaken. To believe that 
maqam music knows "augmented seconds" is neglecting the true role of 
neutral (Zalzalian) thirds. To claim that Indian music is based on an 
underlying structure of 12 tonesis unfair to the subtlety of what Indian 
musicians sing or play.

Above all, one should avoid naming "modes" constructions that are mere 
scales, or to consider sets of utterly movable pitches as in any way 
fixed. And one should not confuse recent descriptions (usually stemming 
from Occidental influences) of macams or Indian scales as "microtonal", 
which they are not. A macam is a heptatonic scale of movable degrees.

Nicolas Meeùs
Paris-Sorbonne




Le 2013-11-28 16:16, Ninov, Dimitar N a écrit :
> Dea List,
>
> I use my second and last message for today to reply briefly to Bruce, who says: I've never seen "harmonic major" used!
>
> I am certain you have seen a lot of harmonic major in the common practice period, Bruce - much more than you expect. However, perhaps you have not been able to recognize it in the appearance of IVm, IIm7-5, and VII dim7 in a major key. Perhaps you think of modal mixture as an abstract phenomenon, which has nothing to do with altered scales. Perhaps, for you, harmonic and melodic minor are not related to modal interaction but you think of them as purely diatonic scales? Well, they both are influenced by natural major to the extent of melodic minor having an identical upper tetrachord with natural major. However, a scale does not have to be physically circulated up and down in order to imply itself in music. Furthermore, harmonic and/or melodic major as scales are widely used in improvisation today, most typically on the same borrowed chords mentioned above.
>
> An immediate example of harmonic major: the second theme from the first movement of Beethoven's first piano sonata in Fm (Op.2 No1). The theme in A flat major outlines a V7-9 chord, with all the notes of A-flat major harmonic being present in the combination of melody and accompaniment.
>
> More than 100 years ago, Nikolaj Rimsky Korsakov stipulated that his harmony book was based on four modes: natural and harmonic major, and natural and harmonic minor. More than 100 years ago...and this book is translated into English. Is it not a shame that today our students do not know what a harmonic major is, maybe because their teachers wait to see this scale widely used as a written line in a classical music score to justify it officially? Do we not know that mode is not just a scale but an environment, and the vertical aspect of this environment may imply a scale, as well as the linear aspect of this environment may imply a chord? This is why "mode" is used today with the meaning of both a scale and tonality.
>
> Best regards,
>
> DN
>
> Dr. Dimitar Ninov, Lecturer
> School of Music
> Texas State University
> 601 University Drive
> San Marcos, Texas 78666
> _______________________________________________
> Smt-talk mailing list
> Smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org
> http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org
>
>
> -----
> Aucun virus trouve dans ce message.
> Analyse effectuee par AVG - www.avg.fr
> Version: 2014.0.4259 / Base de donnees virale: 3629/6874 - Date: 28/11/2013
>
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.societymusictheory.org/pipermail/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org/attachments/20131129/6b55434b/attachment-0004.htm>