Harmonic minor - how often is it used?

[Aristotle]

The sheet says C7 where you put an Am7, and I have a vague notion that I used to harmonize it as a Cm6 as often as not, i.e., 2nd position of your Am7b5.

Meas 25-26, And my book doesn't have the b5's only the b9's.

Well, Melancholy Baby is an earlier generation of pop song, Victorian/Edwardian period, different style of harmonization. That's what I mean about the b9 having been a rule-breaker, twenty years before it just wasn't done.

Ming Dynasty. While we are on the absurd, the song was in the movie "Birth of the Blues" cs 1940. Hasn't Harry Connick covered that one yet?

I

grew up with my dad's 78s, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and stuff.

What's a 78 Just kidding, I had scratchy old 78's

[JohnRoss]

While we are on the absurd, the song was in the movie "Birth of the Blues" cs 1940.

Which was a sort of musical historical something or other, the tunes were older. The song The Birth of the Blues is from 1926 (Wikipedia tells me), but My Melancholy Baby was written in 1911 or 12, Edwardian, it's got that Al Jolson feel to it.

[pingu]

Anyone else here call the fifth mode of the Harm minor the 'Gypsy' scale ?

Not keen on the term ' Phrygian Dominant'
whats Phrygian about it ? its not a iii chord ....... its a V chord innit ?

[JonnyPac]

Greek dominant

Spanish dominant

lol... world dominant. Every body wants to lay claim to it.

HM's V mode. It's Phrygian from the relative major. A Phrygian Dominant is from the relative major key of F Major. It's descriptive enough. I think of it as III7, personally, but that's just me.

[Aristotle]

Which was a sort of musical historical something or other, the tunes were older. The song The Birth of the Blues is from 1926 (Wikipedia tells me), but My Melancholy Baby was written in 1911 or 12, Edwardian, it's got that Al Jolson feel to it.

I can't even describe this - except for the art style on the cover.

[pingu]

Greek dominant

Spanish dominant

lol... world dominant. Every body wants to lay claim to it.

HM's V mode. It's Phrygian from the relative major. A Phrygian Dominant is from the relative major key of F Major. It's descriptive enough. I think of it as III7, personally, but that's just me.

oh its named from the rel major .....
doh i get it now ..... thanks man

[Reg]

Aristotle... I like the point you brought up about thinking about HM or MM when soloing....You were saying you never thought about it.... That's a interesting point... when we play...we don't really mechanically jump around fitting scales together... playing number games... or them playing us. Well I don't most of the time... I just play what I hear at that moment in time. But when I was in the music business of arranging and composing music, I was forced to think in all terms of music... every attack had a complete vertical collection of notes... and part of my job was to make choices as to what that collection of notes was and what they implied... When you play or hear through changes with melody as with your old standards example... do you hear what is simply realized or played...or do you hear complete harmonic structures... I hear total structures... or should I say many complete structures... and then I choose the one(s) I like at that moment in time. My choice changes depending on context etc...
I can't remember how I thought as a kid....I was classically trained, but I think I was simply looking for more notes as compared to where or what harmonic areas they came from... Anyone else... please weigh in also, may not go anywhere but interesting...Reg

[Aristotle]

Aristotle... I like the point you brought up about thinking about HM or MM when soloing....You were saying you never thought about it.... That's a interesting point... when we play...we don't really mechanically jump around fitting scales together... playing number games... or them playing us.

It wouldn't be limited to "soloing." I like you comment about "playing us," because when I hear all this scale-scale-scale stuff, I keep wonering if we are playing the song, or the other way around.

Not to get too far afield, but in another thread, they were talking altered pentatonic. C,D,Eb,G,A and suggesting various names. I said C blues and got a little flak for it. Well, the C is in the root position. When I look at that pitch collection the first thing pops into to mind is those are the notes to most of the head of Ray Charles, Hallelujah I just Lover Her So, (originally in F I think). What scale is it? I don't know. What mode is it when the music changes to the IV chord? I don't know. But, if it's a theory test, I can do the math.

Getting back to what you were saying about 'dated.' There are only a few chronological options. Given the 100 years of "standard" material we have, one can either: 1) play a song in its original way, 2 update an oldie, or 3) play something as if it were more old-fashioned. Somewhere in there are pitch collectoins that someone is going to call "harmonic minor."