- This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 4 months, 2 weeks ago by .
-
Topic
-
Scale degrees and their melodic tendencies
In the major (and minor) keys, some scale degrees are fairly stable and static while others exhibit a more or less strong tendency to move towards other (more stable) notes.Let’s take the major scale: T 2 3 4 5 6 7 T
In the scale, 1 and 3 are the stable degrees, 1 being the most stable: it is the tonic.
The dominant (degree 5) has a very strong tendency to go to the tonic, except when it is part of the I chord.
All the other scale degrees are much more active:
– 4 has a very strong tendency go to 3
– 7 has a very strong tendency to go to 1
– 2 has a tendency to go to 1 (or possibly to 3)
– 6 has a strong tendency to go to 5 (rarely to 7)The same is true for the minor scale, particularly the harmonic minor scale which has a 7 instead of a b7.
The pull on 4 by 3 and on 6 by 5 is so strong that the degrees 4 and 6 are often called tendency tones.
Scale degree 7 is called leading tone. It is arguably the most important tone in tonal music.Melodic cadences
Taking the notes’ stability/instability characteristics into account, we define a number of important melodic movements, called cadences, that are used to conclude melodic phrases. The word “cadence” comes from the latin “cadere” which means “to fall”.– Very conclusive cadences
The melodic movements 2 -> 1 and 7 -> 8 are very conclusive.– Less conclusive cadences
2 -> 3, 4 -> 3 and 5 -> 3 are less conclusive.– Inconclusive cadences
All movements to an active scale degree are inconclusive, in particular 3 -> 2, 6 -> 5 or 8 -> 7. These inconclusive cadences indicate that there is more to come and actually require a complement.Melodic design: reductions
The relative tendency of the various scale degrees to go to neighboring degrees is usually not immediately apparent in the melody of a song, but when we peel away the unessential melodic tones (embellishments) the underlying melodic design becomes much more clear.Let’s look at a very simple example. Below you see a lead sheet (with guitar tab) of the song “Happy Birthday” in the key of G major.
The scale is G = 1, A = 2, B = 3, C = 4, D = 5, E = 6, F# = 7
The very conclusive cadences are A -> G and F# -> G
Less conclusive cadences are A -> B, C -> B and D -> B
Inconclusive cadences include B -> A, E -> D and G -> F#The song is eight bars long (the pickup bar doesn’t count). Let’s try to identify the melodic cadences in this song. This is not so easy on a tab, but easy on a score and even easier if you use your ears!
– We have a 1 -> 7 (G -> F#) inconclusive cadence between bars 1 and 2
– We have a 2 -> 1 (A -> G) conclusive cadence between bars 3 and 4
– We have a 7 -> 6 (F# -> E) inconclusive cadence in bar 6
– We have a final cadence 2 -> 1 (A -> G) between bars 7 and 8
These cadences are phrase markers: each cadence concludes a phrase.In the sheet below, the phrases are indicated by slurs; as you can see, there are four 2-bar phrases. In each phrase we keep the starting note and the phrase cadence; the other notes have their stems removed because they are inessential.
Phrase 1: starts on 5 (D) and ends with 1 -> 7 (call)
Phrase 2: starts on 5 and ends with 2 -> 1 (response)
Phrase 3: starts on 5 and ends with 7 -> 6
Phrase 4: starts on 4 (C) and ends with 2 -> 1
The overall melodic organization of this song is therefore:
– a call 5 -> 7 followed by the response 5 -> 1
– a descending line from 5 -> 6, mostly in 3rds
– a final descending line going stepwise from 4 to 1The overall melodic structure of the song is even more apparent in the score below, where all the unessential notes have been hidden. From this broader standpoint, we can see that the song really consists of two parts:
– a stepwise ascent from 7 to 1
– a descent from 5 to 1 (from 5 to 6 and then from 4 to 1)
From this broader perspective, you see that the natural tendencies of the sale degrees tend to be confirmed.Relevance to improvisation
You may wonder what all this has to do with improvisation?
The point is that the melodic skeleton that we uncovered is what really makes the music move forward, and the cadences in between are important articulations along the way.Improvisation is composition on the fly, and composition is the opposite of what we just did: instead of finding the melodic reduction of a song, we start from that reduction and create an elaboration by adding passing notes, embellishments and what not.
So, playing chord tones (or not) is certainly an important part of an improvisation, but the note choices should also support consistent cadences that structure the musical story.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.