Wednesday

Goals:

• “three forms of minor”
• how variable scale degrees appear in music, and why we have those three forms
• memorizing minor key signatures and Co5

Lesson Plan

1. Key concept: in minor, we see different combinations of altered scale degrees for different purposes. Composers use minor to be particularly expressive; (sing a bit of the Stephenson tonal patterns and lean on fa-mi) So, we call these “variable scale degrees”. Here’s the most common way they play out:
2. Introduce Harmonic minor—raise ^7 to get leading tone because ^1 is not otherwise convincing. Sing the tonic pentachord with upper-neighbor ^6, back down to raised ^7 since that’s how it would typically appear in minor. There are some good singing examples in the Clendinning sight-singing book (which I will try to remember to put on my table in my office for you—if I forget it’s on the bookshelves in the corner by the window); solfege is la ^1, si ^7
3. To reinforce you can also play a “tonicization” that is i-v-i with subtonic (sounds wrong) then i-V-i to show how the leading tone is important to the harmony
4. Sing the full harmonic minor scale and note the “super-step” between b6 and #7—and mention that the distance bet. 6&7 makes it harder/less fluid to sing, so we have trouble with it at first, and…
5. Melodic minor! ☺ It’s nicer to lead up to ^1 with ^6 & ^7, because the half step between tonic and leading tone is very important. But, when returning down to ^5, the half step between ^6 and ^5 is important, so ^6&7 return to the key signature, so there is a fluid melody either up to ^1 or down to ^5.
6. Practice writing the three forms of minor, and drill minor Co5.

HW for Friday:

5.3, maybe 5.2
Ch. 5 Show-It?