F Melodic Minor Scale

A short powerpoint demonstrating the construction of a melodic minor scale.

1. F Melodic Minor Scale Follow the creation of an A Melodic Minor Scale Which will take you through the first two forms of minor scales, so you get a mini review

2. F Natural Minor Scale F minor is the relative minor to Ab Major. What do we know so far? F minor shares the same key signature as Ab Major There are no accidentals. Everything is included in the key signature.

3. F Harmonic Minor We need to add something to this scale to make it harmonic minor . . . A leading tone Raise this note by a half-step? No! That’s the 6 th note. Remember raise the 7 th note to create the leading tone.

4. F Harmonic Minor This is the note that needs to be changed The seventh note is an Eb . To raise it a half-step, Eb becomes E ♮ . E ♮ is the leading tone creating a harmonic minor scale.

5. F Melodic Minor Now that we have the harmonic minor spelled out, we have to do one more thing to turn it into a m elodic m inor scale. In addition to raising the 7 th note of the scale, the 6 th note of the scale also has to be raised by a half-step. The Db was raised by a half-step to D ♮ But . . . That’s only ascending

6. F Melodic Minor So what happens on the descending melodic minor scale? Does this look familiar? It’s the descending portion of the natural minor scale. The descending portion of melodic minor scales use the natural minor form.

7. So let’s review the steps to building a melodic minor scale. F Melodic Minor Build the natural minor scale Build the harmonic minor scale (raise the 7 th ) Now raise the 6 th note of the scale Return to the original natural minor scale Ascending Descending

8. Happy Scale Making!