Hungarian minor scale

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by KH-1 (talk | contribs) at 00:29, 22 November 2016 (Reverted edits by Ajrdileva (talk) to last version by Bender the Bot). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Hungarian Minor scale on C.[1] Playⓘ

The Hungarian Minor scale,[2][3][4][5][6] Double Harmonic minor scale,[7] or Gypsy minor scale,[4][8] is a type of combined musical scale. It is the fourth mode of the double harmonic scale. It is the same as the harmonic minor scale, except that it has a raised fourth scale degree.[2][3][4][6][7][8] Its tonal center is slightly ambiguous, due to the large number of half steps. Also known as Double Harmonic Minor, or Harmonic Minor ♯4, it figures prominently in Eastern European music, particularly in Romani music.[citation needed] Melodies based on this scale have an exotic, romantic flavor for listeners accustomed to more typical Western scales.

A clear way to see this is the Hungarian Minor scale in the key of B. The notes in this scale would be B C♯ D E♯ F♯ G A♯ B. In this example the E♯ is the raised 4th and the A♯ is the raised 7th.

Its step pattern is w - h - + - h - h - + - h, where w indicates a whole step, h indicates a half step, and + indicates an augmented second, which is played as a minor third on a keyboard but is notionally distinct. It may be seen that the scale contains two augmented seconds,[5] one in each tetrachord.[1] Intriguingly, this scale (and its modes like the double harmonic scale) is the only seven-note subset of the equally tempered chromatic scale that is perfectly balanced; this means that when its pitches are represented as points in a circle (whose full circumference represents an octave), their average position (or "centre of mass") is the centre of the circle.[9]

The scale may be used with minor or m+7 chords.[2][6] See: chord-scale system. Chords that may be derived from the B Hungarian Minor scale are Bm, C#7♭5, Daug, F#, G7 and A#m6.[7]

This scale is obtainable from the Arabic scale by starting from the fourth of that scale. Said another way, the C Hungarian minor scale is equivalent to the G Arabic scale.[7]

In Indian classical Carnatic music, it is known as the ragam Simhendramadhyamam.

Notable recordings

The Pink Panther Theme, originally played in the key of E minor, is noted for its quirky, unusual use of chromaticism which is derived from the scale.[10]

Joe Satriani has composed several songs using the Hungarian minor scale ("Musterion"[11]), and film composer Danny Elfman has frequently used it in his soundtrack work[citation needed]. Oli Herbert of the American Melodic Metalcore band All That Remains uses the Hungarian minor scale in his playing ("Become the Catalyst"[12]).

In Enix's video game Illusion of Gaia, the flute melody found in the Inca Ruins uses the C Hungarian minor scale (a ♯4 is used in the second phrase); this music is also quoted in the music of the Larai Cliff stage, transposed to D[citation needed].

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Gypsy" is considered a derogatory term for people who refer to themselves as Roma.

References

  1. ^ a b Kahan, Sylvia (2009). In Search of New Scales, p.39. ISBN 978-1-58046-305-8. Cites Liszt. Des Bohémians, p.301.
  2. ^ a b c Christiansen, Mike (2000). Guitar Scale Dictionary, p.14. ISBN 978-0-7866-5222-8.
  3. ^ a b Stetina, Troy (2007). Fretboard Mastery, p.126. ISBN 978-0-7935-9789-5.
  4. ^ a b c Kent Cleland, Mary Dobrea-Grindahl (2010). Developing Musicianship Through Aural Skills, p.495. ISBN 978-0-415-80244-4
  5. ^ a b Carlos Agon, Emmanuel Amiot, Moreno Andreatta, Gérard Assayag, Jean Bresson, John Manderau; eds. (2011). Mathematics and Computation in Music, p.89. ISBN 978-3-642-21589-6. "'gypsy'[sic] (or 'Hungarian minor') scale."
  6. ^ a b c Christiansen, Mike (2003). Complete Guitar Scale Dictionary, p.16. ISBN 978-0-7866-6994-3.
  7. ^ a b c d Podolsky, Joshua Craig (2010). Advanced Lead Guitar Concepts, p.111. ISBN 978-0-7866-8236-2. Also "Gypsy scale".
  8. ^ a b Hanson, Paul and Stang, Aaron (1996). Shred Guitar, p.114. ISBN 978-1-57623-604-8.
  9. ^ Milne, A.J., Bulger, D., Herff, S.A. Sethares, W.A. "Perfect balance: A novel principle for the construction of musical scales and meters", Mathematics and Computation in Music (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 9110, pp. 97–108) Heidelberg: Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-20602-8
  10. ^ Silverman, Carol (24 May 2012). Romani Routes: Cultural Politics and Balkan Music in Diaspora. Oxford University Press. p. 300. ISBN 978-0-19-530094-9.
  11. ^ "Hungarian Minor", NextLevelGuitar.com.
  12. ^ "Dissecting Oli Herbert's "Become The Catalyst" - Guitar Lesson", RockHouseMethod.BlogSpot.com.

Recommended reading

  • Hewitt, Michael. 2013. Musical Scales of the World. The Note Tree. ISBN 978-0957547001.

External links


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hungarian_minor_scale&oldid=750877656"