So you can see there are multiple ways to practice an exercise in minor. Both of these spots are circled in the example below: On the way down, I would raise the seventh during the last beat, since it actually resolves up to the leading tone. This is where things get a bit tricky – which notes are “upward” and which are “downward”? In the first half of the scale, I would leave the first measure as-is, and wait until measure two to raise the scale degrees. So, while this is a fun way to practice your augmented seconds and challenge yourself, it’s not the most elegant translation to minor.įinally, we have melodic minor. Also, some of the harmonies don’t make a ton of sense.
![trumpet melodic minor scales trumpet melodic minor scales](http://trumpetpla.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Modes.png)
This is not wrong (and it’s definitely still worth practicing), but if we wanted to hear the raised leading tone, we could play it in harmonic minor:Īgain, this is an easy “translation” – just replace all the b-flats with b-naturals. However, these patterns have a little harmony buried in them, and in natural minor we lose the harmonic power of the leading tone. Of course, we can play them in natural minor, the most straight-forward translation: Let’s start with the “3-note” and “4-note” patterns from week one. So, recapping our rudimentary theory: C minor has a key signature of three flats, natural minor follows the key signature, melodic minor raises the 6th and 7th on the way up only, and harmonic raises the 7th both ascending and descending. The names (“natural”, “melodic” and “harmonic) are important – they will help us decide which scale to use at a given time and why they’re important. Let’s take a few seconds to remember our minor scales: So this week, we’re going to look at a few scale patterns from previous article and show what they might look like in various minor modes.
![trumpet melodic minor scales trumpet melodic minor scales](https://i2.wp.com/eltigredo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Scales-Diminished.jpg)
This week we’re going to talk about minor – I’m sure you know it’s important, but do you actually practice it? In my case, I never practiced it much for two reasons: first, most exercises and etudes are in major keys and second, the three minor modes make it confusing to translate exercises to minor.