Minor scales are combinations of keys in music, mostly played on an instrument. They are classified into three types which are the pure or the natural minor, the melodic minor and the harmonic minor. The notes on the minor scales sound sad.
The natural minor scale is characterized by half steps in between the scale degrees, 2 – 3 and 5 – 6. It has a whole step between the scale degrees 7 – 8. It is similar to the 6th musical mode of the major scale. One can familiarize the steps by remembering the “W, H, W, W, H, W, W” where W represents whole and H represents half. In semitones, the W is replaced by 2 while the H is replaced by 1 to make (2 1 2 2 1 2 2).
The harmonic minor scale, also called the Mohammedan scale, is characterized by a half step between the scale degrees, 2 – 3, 5 – 6 and 7 – 8. It has a step and a half between the scale degrees 6 – 7. This is called an augmented second and it is mainly used by composers like Mozart since it feels like an awkward key and thus is also used mainly in vocal music.
The melodic minor scale is characterized by half steps between the scale degrees, 2 – 3, and the degrees 7 – 8. This is only when ascending and it changes to the natural minor scale while descending. The sixth and the seventh notes in a music scale are raised by a half step while ascending.
When writing minor scales, one can start with a high or a low pitch as far as they use a sharp, flat or a double sharp where the flat denotes lowering the pitch by half a step and the sharp denotes a rise in the pitch by half a step. This is advantageous to music learners since they can write the minor scales without considering the starting point as far as they know the basics of starting with a sharp, flat or a double sharp.
When the minor scales are combined with the major scales, they form a complete harmonic scale that constitutes most of the songs. This is mainly used in music where the minor scales are dependent on the major scales and vice versa to give mood to a piece of music on a scale. The minor scale is therefore separated from the major scale only in writing.
Some of the minor scales sound almost the same as the major scales and it takes a professional to determine which the major or the minor scale is and this needs a professional. The half steps are mainly used in vocal music to project the variations in the notes.
