Hi all...I've got to that point where I just can't put these off any longer!! So....I'm just wondering how people think about / remember them? The way I see it there are a few ways:


1. Think of the major scale (not the relative major just the major of that key) on the way up and flatten the 3rd. On the way down play the key as its written (or think about the relative major scale and play that)

2. Think of the key signature and raise the 6th and 7th on the way up and then flatten the 6th and 7th on the way down)

3. Go by the sound and work out the intervals as you go

I know I'll get it eventually but it just seems that I really have to think about the key signature on these rather then getting used to the 'feel' of each scale because they differ going up and down.

Basically, some tips on harmonic minors please!

btw - I mean't melodic minor! You see how much these are confusing me??!!!

lol i was just going to say i didnt find harmonic minors difficult, it was the melodics i couldnt do!

erm im not really sure as i have trouble with the melodics as well!

I think I do a combination of 2 and 3... but I've never really thought about it- I just do them!

I would do a combination of both 2 and 3 as well. 2 more for piano and 3 more for violin.

But like Cecilia said, other than a very quick think of 2 for the piano before I start (because the speed I need them at for G8 is too fast to have time to think much while doing them!) I would just do them. I think if you get started and just practise them as you would for your harmonics and major scales, you eventually grasp them and it becomes just like normal.

Play them slowly and give your ear time to think what comes next in the pattern if you do method 3.

Speed can come later.

Maggie

I always found when I was starting minor melodics that it paid to be absolutely aware of the key signature so I did your method one, i.e. think of the major going up and flatten the third and then play according to key signature going down.

Over time, this merged into your method 3 so that the sound really mattered. BTW I never do the two minors in isolation so whenever I play the melodic I play the harmonic straight after it and vice versa so the pattern and the sound somehow gets drummed in for both.

Bu as Maggiemay says, play them really slowly at first and make sure you have the correct fingering from the outset.

I'm going to go for the unpopular option: a variant of 1 (but I'm sure I am subconsciously using 3 as well): on the way up first three notes (harmonic) minor scale rest major; on the way down as the key signature.

To me though playing scales once I am familiar with them is just a shape on the keyboard more than anything else: shape and sound are what I think of once the scale is reasonably fluent.

I don't really have a problem with melodic minors anymore I have practised them so much. When I first started playing them I think I worked them out by thinking of the relative major and then raising the 6th and 7th, ie your second suggestion. I also play both the melodic and harmonic minors when I practise.

Thanks for all your replies!

I have been working hard on melodic minors recently and actually they now don't seem as bad as I first thought

looks like grade 7 in the spring may be possible after all! Anyone else doing the same? 2005/6 syllabus......what pieces have you chosen?

Well done on getting to grips with them

Incidentally one way of getting round the memorising of the sound that I use on students is to just spend a few weeks on the ascending scale then a few on the descending then put them together, it can take all the eeeek out of learning the different sounds going up and coming down!

When I first did melodic minors I wondered why I hadn't learnt them first as I found them so much easier to play.