Monday, July 10, 2006
Lesson-36 : Harmonic Minor - Sharp List
Let me repeat the two harmonic minors discussed last time viz A & E Harmonic Minors.
A – B – C – D – E – F – G - A ( but G is Sharped separately ) – All White notes equivalent.
E – F# – G - A – B – C – D – E ( but D is sharped separately) – Single sharp equivalent.
As we know, E-Minor was arrived at by going Perfect 5th upward from the starting A-Minor.
In the same way, if we proceed with the balance keys also, as we used to do for Major Scale, ie going upward in terms of Perfect 5th every time from the previous scale tonic,
we get the following complete table of Harmonic minor scales of
B-minor (2-sharps)
F# minor (3-sharps)
C# minor (4-sharps)
G# minor (5-sharps)
D# minor (6-sharps) and finally
A# minor (7-sharps)
in that sequential order.
Also, we know that, the leading note shall be separately sharped.
If the leading note happens to be a sharp note already, then it becomes double sharp !
[Double sharp is usually written using a x-mark (cross mark), before the notes].
This double sharp business is little but confusing in the beginning, but you can understand easily with key board in front of you, and try to locate the exact key and everything looks very logical.
For example,
F-Double sharp is equivalent to G, and
C-Double Sharp is nothing but D, and finally
G-Double Sharp is again nothing but A !
So that’s simple !
So, in case of Minor scales, we are now having the method similar to Major scale; similar in approach as well as the number and sequence of sharps etc.
Making our life a lot easier!
Only additional thing to remember is to Put a sharp before the leading note every time without forgetting!
That’s a relatively smaller simpler additional effort compared to our simplified learning…Isn’t it !
Our same old sentence of “Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle” helps us in identifying the sequence of sharp notes getting added each time.
Another important observation is :
If we compare the Major & Minor scales equivalent (in terms of sharps) for each of these scales, we get the confirmation that they are separated by the interval of Minor 3rd !
Refer the following equivalent table :
You can check yourself the interval between these two equivalent scales w.r.t. their Tonic,
C to A,
G to E,
D to B, etc. etc…..,
and understand that they are separated by the interval of Minor 3rd.
So, through our understanding of Major scales, we can learn the Harmonic Minor Scales easily.
Similar to the above scales of sharps, we can easily analyse and learn the scales of flats also.
In our next lesson!
A – B – C – D – E – F – G - A ( but G is Sharped separately ) – All White notes equivalent.
E – F# – G - A – B – C – D – E ( but D is sharped separately) – Single sharp equivalent.
As we know, E-Minor was arrived at by going Perfect 5th upward from the starting A-Minor.
In the same way, if we proceed with the balance keys also, as we used to do for Major Scale, ie going upward in terms of Perfect 5th every time from the previous scale tonic,
we get the following complete table of Harmonic minor scales of
B-minor (2-sharps)
F# minor (3-sharps)
C# minor (4-sharps)
G# minor (5-sharps)
D# minor (6-sharps) and finally
A# minor (7-sharps)
in that sequential order.
Also, we know that, the leading note shall be separately sharped.
If the leading note happens to be a sharp note already, then it becomes double sharp !
[Double sharp is usually written using a x-mark (cross mark), before the notes].
This double sharp business is little but confusing in the beginning, but you can understand easily with key board in front of you, and try to locate the exact key and everything looks very logical.
For example,
F-Double sharp is equivalent to G, and
C-Double Sharp is nothing but D, and finally
G-Double Sharp is again nothing but A !
So that’s simple !
So, in case of Minor scales, we are now having the method similar to Major scale; similar in approach as well as the number and sequence of sharps etc.
Making our life a lot easier!
Only additional thing to remember is to Put a sharp before the leading note every time without forgetting!
That’s a relatively smaller simpler additional effort compared to our simplified learning…Isn’t it !
Our same old sentence of “Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle” helps us in identifying the sequence of sharp notes getting added each time.
Another important observation is :
If we compare the Major & Minor scales equivalent (in terms of sharps) for each of these scales, we get the confirmation that they are separated by the interval of Minor 3rd !
Refer the following equivalent table :
You can check yourself the interval between these two equivalent scales w.r.t. their Tonic,
C to A,
G to E,
D to B, etc. etc…..,
and understand that they are separated by the interval of Minor 3rd.
So, through our understanding of Major scales, we can learn the Harmonic Minor Scales easily.
Similar to the above scales of sharps, we can easily analyse and learn the scales of flats also.
In our next lesson!
