Modes of The Melodic Minor Scale
A great deal of modern jazz harmony arises from the modes of the ascending form of the melodic minor scale, also known as the jazz melodic minor scale. (see jazz minor scale) This scale is essentially a diatonic major scale with a flatted third, for example C D E♭ F G A B C (Exactly the same as in "classical" music and its theory, in Jazz the melodic minor scale's sixth and seventh are not necessarily flattened when descending). As with any other scale, the modes are derived from playing the scale from different root notes, causing a series of jazz scales to emerge.
Modes of C ascending melodic minor:
| i | ascending melodic minor | T, 2,♭3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | (associated with C- maj7 or C-6 chords, functions as a i minor) |
| II | Phrygian ♮6 (or Dorian ♭2) | T,♭2,♭3, 4, 5, 6,♭7 | (associated with D7 sus ♭9 chord, functions as a dominant) |
| III | Lydian augmented (Lydian ♯5) | T, 2, 3,♯4,♯5, 6, 7 | (associated with E♭ maj7 +5 chord, functions as a I+) |
| IV | Lydian dominant (also, "Lydian ♭7")(also known as Mixolydian ♯4) | T, 2, 3,♯4, 5, 6,♭7 | (associated with F7 ♯11 chord, functions as a dominant not going to I) |
| V | Mixolydian ♭6 (or simply "fifth mode") | T, 2, 3, 4, 5,♭6,♭7 | (associated with G7 ♭13 chord, functions as a dominant) |
| vi | Locrian ♮2 (also known as "half-diminished" scale) | T, 2,♭3, 4, ♭5,♭6,♭7 | (associated with Ami7 ♭5, which functions as a ii chord in minor) |
| VII | Super Locrian (also "altered dominant scale", or "altered scale") | T,♭2,♭3, ♭4,♭5,♭6,♭7 | (associated with B7 ♯9 ♭13 chord, functions as a dominant) |
It should be noted that the names of these scales are variations of the names used for some of the modes of the diatonic major scale, for example the Phrygian Natural 6, the second mode of the melodic minor, is named so because it is the same as the Phrygian mode of the major scale except with a raised (i.e.,♮6) sixth.
Read more about this topic: Jazz Scale
Famous quotes containing the words modes of, modes, melodic, minor and/or scale:
“In the final analysis, “style” is art. And art is nothing more or less than various modes of stylized, dehumanized representation.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Whose starward eye
Saw chariot “swing low”? And who was he
That breathed that comforting, melodic sigh,
“Nobody knows de trouble I see”?”
—James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938)
“For a country to have a great writer ... is like having another government. That’s why no régime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.”
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918)
“The Humanity of men and women is inversely proportional to their Numbers. A Crowd is no more human than an Avalanche or a Whirlwind. A rabble of men and women stands lower in the scale of moral and intellectual being than a herd of Swine or of Jackals.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)