One of the fundamental aspects of the study of music - terminology - is certainly a subject for debate. Research has revealed that terminology varies considerably from one college to another.
This is an invitation to those interested music professors to participate in a discussion on this topic. The term 'melodic minor' would be a good place to start as there appears to be a good deal of controversy about it.
The included excerpt is from Bach's French Overture in B minor for harpsichord. The music is obviously in F sharp minor at this point. As it is the general consensus that the minor mode consists of the 'natural', 'harmonic' and 'melodic' forms - with 'melodic' reverting to 'natural' for its possible descent - it appears that Bach's music presents a discrepancy in terminology.
Your comments and insights are most welcome.
2 comments:
Take a look at the canon at a fifth from the Art of Fugue - the subject itself is an equal testament to this fact - melodic minor is SIMPLY pedagogical - nothing to do with REAL music!!!!
Yes indeed, Justin. Going a step further, it would appear that all 'scales' are pedagogical, except in the ocean kingdom. It is ludicrous to use the terms 'natural', 'harmonic' or 'melodic'. First of all, there is nothing particularly natural, harmonic or melodic about them. Secondly, it is preposterous to think that the master composers thought in those terms.
It is best to think of a 'tonal system', not a scale or group of scales. The minor tonal system consists of 9, not 7 pitches, in A minor: A B C D E F F# G G#. This is the set of pitches from which a composer extracts just the right combinations for every moment in the music. I would dare say there are as many examples in the literature of the pitch succession #7 to #6 as there are of any of the other combinations of 6 and 7. If you would like, I'll gladly send you a few hundred examples from early Baroque upto Brahms.
As you are obviously well acquainted with the Art of Fugue, your insights on this incredible work would be most welcome here any time.
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