Harmonic and melodic scales?

Question

Ok so i just got into my high school symphony orchestra and while we were warming up my teacher made us play a F major scale then a F minor scale and then melodic and harmonic scale but i don't know how to play them. So how do you play them like which notes will be sharps or flats? And what is the quickest way to learn them. I play cello by the way.

Answer 1

In the key of F minor, the key has four flats....B-flat, E-flat, A-flat, and D-flat (Bb, Eb, Ab, and Db). In addition, the C, G, and F, are not flatted.

Use this mantra to help you learn the F minor harmonic and melodic scales.

F minor harmonic scale going up and down is...

F G Ab Bb C Db E F E Db C Bb Ab G F

F minor melodic scale going up and down is

F G Ab Bb C D E F Eb Db C Bb Ab G F.

Pointers....

A harmonic minor scale has a raised 7th, or sharp 7 (#7), whether you play it up or down. All other notes are within the key signature.

A melodic minor scale is trickier. If you go up the scale, there is a raised 6th and 7th (#6 and #7), and that is why Db and Eb going up the F minor melodic scale have natural signs.

However, when you go down in a melodic minor scale, the raised 6th and 7th on the D and E cancel out and the two notes...D and E go back down a half-step so they are now back to their original notes in F minor..... Db and Eb again.

Hope all of this helps you deal with the F minor scales in the harmonic and the melodic.

I almost forgot about the F major scale....

I assume this is going to be the Ionian mode of the scale. In the key of F major, there is only one flat...B. All other notes in F major are not flatted unless marked as flat.

The F major scale, ascending and descending, is....

F G A Bb C D E F E D C Bb A G F.

I hope all of this helps you in your music knowledge.