details concerning the major and minor modes

8/19/2019 Details Concerning the Major and Minor Modes

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Details concerning the Major and Minor Modes

Introduction

As we have seen in our chapters on tonality, major and minor serve as equal polarities in the worldof tonal music. At least, that is my experience. Some say that minor is a distorted, or "turbid" or

"artfully contrived" form of the True Tonality, which is major. This school of thought has manyadherents. ut seen from a global perspective, where so much music tends towards a minor thirdat at least equal measures to the major third, ! tend towards a view that sees major and minortonalities as in equal balance, one to the other.

The theory of armonic #olarity ma$es this explicit, by positing an ascending series that gives riseto major harmonies, and a descending series that gives riese to minor harmonies. This has beenexplained on previous pages, both from a practical and a philosophical viewpoint.

!t reamins in this chapter to loo$ a little more deeply at how the polarity of major and minor playout in the real%life world of tonal composition.

The Major Scale and the "Three Minor Scales."

Those of you who are instrumentalists have no doubt played various scales on your instrument. !fyou have a consciencious teacher, you have li$ely learned to play the major scales, along withtheir corresponding minor scales. !n serious studios, these minor scales are of two types& the so%called harmonic minor scale and the so%called melodic minor scale.'et(s loo$ at these in alittle more detail.

The major scale and the natural minor scale are related to the major $ey with its relative minor.Thus ) major and A minor share the same $ey signature, and the natural scale of ) major ispaired with the natural scale of A minor. This is, of course, analogous to the old modes of !onianand Aeolian.

*xpressed in the $ey of ), we can spea$ more directly about ) minor as being the parallel minor of

) major. Thus the natural scale of ) minor uses the $ey signature of the relative major, in this case*b major&

This natural minor scale is one of the three minors, but it is more of a modal scale, as it is identicalto ) aeolian.


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The harmonic minor scale is the natural minor scale with its seventh step raised to create thesame half%step leading tone that exists in the parallel major scale.

The melodic minor scale reflects the tendency of composers, when they create tonal melodies inthe minor mode, to raise the +th and th degrees of the scale when ascending to the tonic, but tolower the +th and th degrees of the scale -that is, return them to their natural state when themelody descends. Thus the melodic minor scale is different on the ascent than on the descent.This is similar to the function of many !ndian ragas, by the way.

-The flats in parenthesis are just to reinforce what is already in the $ey signature.

These scales represent procedures that composers used for centuries regarding chords within theminor mode. !t(s important to emphasi/e that the compositional practices came first, and thescales were then created to define what composers had long been doing.

'et(s investigate.

Harmony in Natural Minor

0e have seen that chords in the major mode are established as follows&


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Tonic, Subdominant and 1ominant are major, 2ediant, Submediant and Supertonic are minor andthe 'eading Tone triad is diminished -and usually forms a part of the complete 1ominant Seventh)hord.

The minor mode is the polar opposite of the major mode. !n minor, the primary triads i, iv and vare naturally minor -we artificially ma$e the 3 chord major in order to create the raised leading,while the secondary triads are major, with the addition of the one diminished triad, just as in themajor $ey.

Thus both the major and the natural minor modes have three major triads, three minor triads andone diminished triad. They occur on different steps of the scale, and this is the primary -andextremely important reason why the two modes sound so different from one another.

!n the minor mode, the chords built on the third, sixth and seventh degrees of the scale are allmajor, and relate directly to the !, !3 and 3 chords of the relative major $ey. -!n ) minor, the ichord is c minor and the !!! chord is *b major, just as the relative major of ) minor is *b. Thechord built on the second degree of the scale is diminished, just as the scale on the seventhdegree of the relative major scale is diminished. ere are the same chords, with the labels belowreferring to the chords in ) minor, and the labels above corresponding to the identical chords in *bmajor, the relative major of ) minor&


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#lease see this important connection between relative major and minor chords. A great deal abouttonal harmony can be understood by simply grasping the implications of this correspondance.

Harmony using the Harmonic Minor Scale

This pictures becomes more complex, and more interesting, when the notes of the harmonic minorscale is introduced.

The harmonic minor scale is so%called for the explicit purpose of intoducing the raised leading toneinto the minor mode, allowing for the creation of the same 1ominant chord as occurs in the major$ey& that is, a major triad. Since the 4 is natural in both modes, the 4 can be added to the1ominant triad in minor to create the same 1ominant Seventh chord as in major.

Thus allows for harmony in a minor $ey to progress in such a way that we create the same 3%!cadence, with the raised leading tone, as in minor.

#lease listen to this example to hear clearly the difference between these three cadences5 6oticehow the last measure begins on ) minor but ends on ) major. A common occurance at the end ofminor music, especially in aroque practice.

!t is important to note that the "harmonic minor scale" is actually the bi%product of the need tocreate a major chord dominant chord within the minor $ey. *ven in the earliest forms of harmonicthin$ing, during 7enaissance times, the raised leading tone was used to create a cadence in anotherwise minor modality. This is why ! call this the "so%called harmonic minor scale." The scale isreally just a theoretical way to codify a standard practice& when in the minor mode, raise theleading tone of a dominant chord to create a major chord when resolving bac$ to the harmony ofthe tonic triad.

The Modal Shift of the Subdominant chord


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The melodic minor scale, with its ascending A natural in the $ey of ) minor, existsbecause of what its name implies& it is a melodic device when a melody movestowards the tonic in a minor $ey.

ut it also implies that the A natural could be used in a harmonic context, allowingthe otherwse minor Subdominant triad to appear as a major triad. This iscommonplace in the minor tonality. Thus in ) minor, you could sometimes have asubdominant minor chord, 4%Ab%), but also a subdominant major chord, 4%A%),

with an natural accidental on the A. ere(s a short progression in ) minor&

!n terms of armonic #olarity, the reverse is also true. Since we can see the minor subdominantchord as arising from the descending reciprocal series, the minor version of the subdominantchord can equally arise during an otherwise major passage.

Thus the Subdominant chord becomes a harmony well%suited to modal shift The !3 chord isnormally major in a major $ey and minor in a minor $ey, but it can shift to its polar opposite.

)onsider this harmonic progression&

'isten to the two progressions, played bac$ to bac$ on this sound clip&The

Subdominant/Relative Subdominant seventh chord in minorAs a last point, and

perhaps a more complex one, we need to loo$ at the subdominant chord in minor andits relative chord, the ii. This follows up on the discussion on the previous pageregarding the diminished seventh chord.

0e have seen that a standard motion in tonal music is for the tonic to swingdownward to the subdominant, upwards to the dominant and then bac$ to the tonic.This is the same whether the progression is seen in minor or major.


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Another version of this progression substitutes the ii chord (the Subdominant-Relative or S-R) for the IV chord. 6otice that in minor, the ii chord becomesa diminished triad, due to the presence of the Ab in the key of minor.

Astute observers might point out that the bass line and the soprano line are moving in paralleloctaves in the final example. T78*5 Such problems will be fixed when we study chord inversions inthe next chapter.

!n 9a// and some )lassical context, this two chord is given the added seventh, turning it into a iichord. 4or this example, ! have placed the 4 in the bass instead of the 1, but if you loo$ at thetreble clef chord, you will notice that it spells out a complete ii chord& 1%4%A%).

The difference between these progressions are subtle, but give them a listen. All

three are played bac$ to bac$ in this one sound file.


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6otice that in ma!or, the ii" chord is a minor seventh chord, while in minor,the ii" chord is a half-diminished seventh chord, or in ja// terms, a #t$o-seven flat five.# oth names refer to the same thing& this is a seventh chord$ith a minor seventh above the root, but a triad that is diminished ( inother $ords, in possession of a #flat-five.#)%

!t(s a little hard to see with the graphic, but the half diminished seventh chord istraditionally written with the symbol :. Thus we(d write ii: for the two half%diminished seventh chord.

The close relationship between these ii chords and the subdominant chord is thatin some theory discussions, the ii chord is not played with the 1 in the bass, butis played a subdominant chord, a 4 chord, with an "added sixth." !n this way, thesubdominant quality is maintained, and the additional note is an "added tone" tothe basic subdominant triad. 6ote the how measures one and three and measurestwo and four have the identical notes. The only difference is that the first twochords are spelled as a stac$ of thirds, whereas the second two chords are spelledas triads with an added sixth. This may seem esoteric now, but it will becomeimportant in the next boo$, as you progress in your study of harmony.

Any way you loo$ at it, this sonority is unique in music due to its quality. !n allcases in tonal music, the ii chord or the ii chord proceeds to the 3 chord. !f yougo far in harmony, you will come to discover that this particular chord, the "half%diminished seventh chord" becomes a magical harmony that found all sorts of newexpressions in the music of 0agner, 1ebussy, 7avel and others. That, of course,much down the road.

Two closing examples of the Major-Minor Polarity (Jazz Standards)

ringing the world of major and minor together into a single composition was acommonplace activity among ja// composers. #hrases in the relative minor,followed by phrases in the relative major, are common place in ja// standards. Agreat, condensed example is the standard "Softly, as in a morning sunrise." The Asection is in the $ey of ) minor, and is a simple progression of the minor tonic,followed by the relative subdominant -the ii; or ii half%diminished seventh chord,followed by the dominant in minor. The section then jumps up to the relativemajor and repeats a modified version of the same pattern& Tonic triad, followed bya movement to ii via the dominant of 1, followed by a movement to 3 via thedominant of 3. The section concludes with a jump bac$ to the relative minor by

way of its dominant.


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This is a lot of words. !t(s easier if you loo$ at it, and most importantly, listen to it&

ere(s me playing it&

&otice that the first part is in minor, $ith a clear i, ii, V i pro'ression.


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he second part, after the repeat, is in b ma!or. it starts out ii V I in bma!or, then has a *ominant of the relative Subdominant (V"+ii) beforereachin' back to minor throu'h its V" (the ". an you hear thisharmonic shift $hile you listen to it

Another 'ood eample is Autumn /eaves. 6otice how the A section be'ins$ith a basic movement in ma!or, follo$ed by a similar movement inminor. he Roman numeral analysis sho$s that the only chord

pro'ression is a ii-V-I pro'ression, in the relative ma!or or minor.

Study this carefully and listen to the playbac$. I have simplified the harmonyto sho$ the basic movement% it either 'oes ii-V-I in b ma!or or it 'oes ii-V-i in the relative minor, minor. he piece ends in minor. his is a'reat eample of the $ay music moves bet$een relative ma!ors andminors0a common practice in all tonal music.


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details concerning the major and minor modes

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