<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin-top:0cm;
margin-right:0cm;
margin-bottom:10.0pt;
margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=FR link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Dear colleagues,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Oops! I wasn’t very clear, Dimitar! I meant to say that “I've never seen harmonic major used” as a <b><i>label</i></b> during my 9 years of study at Juilliard, University of Southern California, and Indiana University! Perhaps things have changed since I finished my studies in 1973. Gosh, forty years ago! It’s interesting to learn that Rimsky-Korsakov used the term, but we didn’t much talk about him or Tchaikovsky either, in theory courses, though we did perform extracts from their operas in the workshops where I learned my craft as opera coach and conductor. That is perhaps an example of “the inflexible and old-fashioned manner essential musicianship and theory one are taught… detached from musical practices.”</span><span lang=EN-US> </span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>I started noticing pieces in major with the lowered 6<sup>th</sup> degree a long time ago. One of my favorites is the love scene from Berlioz’s <b><i>Romeo and Juliette</i></b>. But I don’t think that we ever learned about this scale in theory.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>I should also have added, when I suggested naming the tetrachord with the augmented second in the middle the "altered" tetrachord, the alteration of the seventh degree in minor, as well as the sixth degree in major, both alterations being melodic as well as harmonic. I’ve given a lot of thought to this sort of thing in order to avoid geographical and ambiguous names for scales. If you have the time and know a little French, you might like to visit my website, where I have posted a manual on improvisation for my students in France: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://bruce.grant.pagesperso-orange.fr">http://bruce.grant.pagesperso-orange.fr</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>I suggest naming ascending “melodic” minor “combined” minor for example, as a minor pentachord is combined with a major tetrachord, what you call “modal interaction”. “Combined major” has a major pentachord and a minor tetrachord. Is this the scale you mean by melodic major? I don’t suppose that one implies that normal major is not melodic! I use the term “neutral” for the tetrachord with the semitone in the middle, avoiding the geographical names Dorian and Mixolydian with “neutral minor” and “neutral major”. That’s what I meant by “qualifications” of major and minor: first the quality of the third in the pentachord, followed by the type of tetrachord. Maybe we can change “the inflexible and old-fashioned manner essential musicianship and theory one are taught” by rethinking labels for the “pitch sets” that are scales that say something about their physical make-up, in order to attach them better to international musical practice.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Cambria","serif"'>Bruce Grant, DM, Indiana University<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Cambria","serif"'>Music director<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif"'>Atelier lyrique de Bourgogne<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif"'>Dijon, France<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>