Harmonic Minor Scale and Modes

     Before we dive in, it is important to understand how this scale can be built. The harmonic minor scale stems from a need to have a leading tone in a minor scale that naturally doesn’t exist. In essence, the harmonic scale is a minor scale (Aeolian mode) with a raised 7th degree, in order …

Two-Octave Scales

     These scales can be built either with the repetition of the tonic as the root for the second octave, or not. The easiest way of building such scales is by combining two different scales, like so:      There are many harmonic and melodic possibilities to be explored here but probably one of the most obvious ones …

Music as Language

      We make sounds to speak and when used properly in a coherent and intelligible way we are using a form of language. Music, as an art form and in its own unique way, also uses sounds and organizing them in such a way that they actually make sense can be a form of Syntax …

Impressionism in Music

     It was a movement that took place during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries where the music composed was more focused on suggesting and conveying an atmosphere, moods and emotions by means of harmonic and melodic contrasts at the expense of tonal coherence in the sense of the traditional tonal harmonic functions.      …