Lesson 47: Minor Keys, Part 2 — Melodic Minor and Modal Mixture

Play melodic minor with the asymmetric ascending/descending pattern.
Recognise modal mixture — borrowed chords from the parallel mode — in a Baroque piece.

The melodic minor is the minor scale trying to sound natural.

Melodic minor solves a problem: the harmonic minor's augmented second is hard to sing. It raises both the sixth and seventh on the way up, then returns to natural minor on the way down — smooth ascending, modal descending.

A melodic minor

D melodic minor on your alto staff

Ascending: A B C D E F# G# A; descending: A G F E D C B A (no sharps). Same key, two paths.

On your alto staff: ascending D E F G A B C# D; descending D C Bb A G F E D. Same key, two paths.

Modal mixture — borrowing from the parallel

A major-key piece can briefly borrow a chord or note from its parallel minor (the minor scale with the same tonic). The most common case: a Baroque major-key piece dipping into the minor sixth degree for expressive colour.

The Ab in the middle is borrowed from C minor — a momentary cloud across the major sun.

On your alto staff this reads in F major; the Db is borrowed from F minor — a momentary cloud across the major sun.

Now play these

Telemann: Sonata in C minor, TWV 41:c2: C minor, all three forms of minor.; F minor on your alto staff, all three forms of minor.
Handel: Sonata in B-flat major, HWV 377 (Allegro): Modal mixture moments, quickly resolved.
Telemann: Sonata in D minor (complete): All three forms of minor across its movements.

When you can play melodic minor in two keys and recognise modal mixture in a piece you have not seen before, move on to Lesson 48.