The Origin Story of the Use of Natural (Raised) 6th in Minor Contexts

[Tal_175]

In my understanding, the harmonic minor and melodic minor scales emerged strictly as voice-leading solutions in multipart writing (not just in the melody voice but in any of the voices). Composers such as Bach would raise the 6th or 7th degree of the natural minor to smooth out ascending voice movements. They were conceptualized as “harmonic minor” and “melodic minor” scales much later. The raised 7th becomes the leading note when arriving at the tonic. But how was the natural 6 used as a voice-leading solution? In jazz, the natural 6th is associated with the static tonic minor sound rather than as a voice-leading artefact.

This is what co-pilot claims, does that check out?

In Bach’s minor-mode writing, the raised 6th (nat6) almost always appears in the predominant region — specifically in ii°6 or iv-derived predominant sonorities — before the music moves to the dominant. This is consistent with standard Bach-style voice-leading practice, where nat6 is used to smooth an ascending melodic line and to prepare the dominant without creating the augmented 2nd.

[Christian Miller]

In my understanding, the harmonic minor and melodic minor scales emerged strictly as voice-leading solutions in multipart writing (not just in the melody voice but in any of the voices). Composers such as Bach would raise the 6th or 7th degree of the natural minor to smooth out ascending voice movements. They were conceptualized as “harmonic minor” and “melodic minor” scales much later. The raised 7th becomes the leading note when arriving at the tonic. But how was the natural 6 used as a voice-leading solution In jazz, the natural 6th is associated with the static tonic minor sound rather than a voice-leading artefact.

This is what co-pilot claims, does that check out?

In Bach’s minor-mode writing, the raised 6th (nat6) almost always appears in the predominant region — specifically in ii°6 or iv-derived predominant sonorities — before the music moves to the dominant. This is consistent with standard Bach-style voice-leading practice, where nat6 is used to smooth an ascending melodic line and to prepare the dominant without creating the augmented 2nd.

This is not correct, I think the AI is conflating two separate things.

The nat 6 on the predominant IV chord is the 2nd of the key, not the 6th. It is the 6th of chord IV, not the prevailing key.

So the 6th of Dm6 is B, which in A minor is the 2nd degree.

This chord is prevalent in basically all common practice music, not just Bach. It's a feature of the standard rule of the octave for example, here from Fedele Fenaroli's book:


Short answer is it's diatonic to the minor key, and it's usually to have a 6th chord on degree IV especially before a cadence.

Long answer - this chord arises from the standard voice leading of a so called "cadenza composta" or compound cadence.

Here is a model example from the Bach scholar Derek Remes, here in A minor.

Notice the top voices. In a compound cadence, the soprano, or "cantizans" as it is known, moves 1-7-1, with the 7th raised by a half step in the minor key. We have a clash of a major second between B and A in the top voices that revolves to B and G# and then to a unison or octave A. This is the thing that's actually important. The resulting chord could be IVm6, Vsus4 - or ii-7b5 depending on what the bass is.



The voice leading almanac is worth a look if this stuff interests you.

Compendium of Voice-Leading Patterns from the 17th and 18th Centuries to Play, Sing, and Transpose at the Keyboard - Musiktheorie

So that's the contrapuntal understanding.

OTOH you do get the raised 6th (F#) quite commonly as a lower neighbour decoration of the 7th (G#) in the cantizans voice in cadences. Many cases in Baroque music. Which leads to the use of the ascending form melodic minor on the V chord, something associated with - but not unique to - Bach.

[Tal_175]

This is not correct, I think the AI is conflating two separate things.

The nat 6 on the predominant IV chord is the 2nd of the key, not the 6th. It is the 6th of chord IV, not the prevailing key.

So the 6th of Dm6 is B, which in A minor is the 2nd degree.

I just want to clarify this before reading the rest of your response more carefully. AI's response is in the context of the correct interpretation of the nat 6. Maybe less ambiguous way to say it, raised 6th. The symbol 6 is also used as the figured bass term for the 1rst inversion in AI's response I believe.
Here is a more detailed description of how the AI claims it is used (connecting 6 with the raised 7 when going to dominant):

Predominant region — YES (this is where the raised 6 lives)

The raised 6 appears in:
ii°6

This is the primary home of the raised 6 in minor.
Example in A minor:

• ii°6 = D–F#–B
• raised 6 = F#

Why it appears here:

• smooths the ascent 5 > #6 > #7 > 1
• avoids the augmented 2nd (b6 > #7)
• prepares the dominant
• creates proper contrapuntal approach to V

[Christian Miller]

I just want to clarify this before reading the rest of your response more carefully. AI's response is in the context of the correct interpretation of the nat 6. Maybe less ambiguous way to say it, raised 6th. The symbol 6 is also used as the figured bass term for the 1rst inversion in AI's response I believe.
Here is a more detailed description of how the AI claims it is used (connecting 6 with the raised 7 when going to dominant):

Predominant region — YES (this is where the raised 6 lives)

The raised 6 appears in:
ii°6

This is the primary home of the raised 6 in minor.
Example in A minor:

• ii°6 = D–F#–B
• raised 6 = F#

Why it appears here:

• smooths the ascent 5 > #6 > #7 > 1
• avoids the augmented 2nd (b6 > #7)
• prepares the dominant
• creates proper contrapuntal approach to V

This is the LMM’s answer?

Ok so stop me if I’m getting this wrong because I’m not really a classical functional analysis guy but iio is the diminished triad on the second degree of the scale, no?

So in A minor, that’s Bo, which is B F Ab. The first inversion is F Ab B.

Now you can totally have the natural sixth on the II chord if it smooths out the voice leading as you say. For example an ascending 5-6.

But this doesn’t appear to be a case of that.

This appears to be a mistake by the chatbot. A ii would contain the F#, not the iio.

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[Tal_175]

This is the LMM’s answer?

Ok so stop me if I’m getting this wrong because I’m not really a classical functional analysis guy but iio is the diminished triad on the second degree of the scale, no?

So in A minor, that’s Bo, which is B F Ab. The first inversion is F Ab B.

Yes, it's LLM's answer. But the first inversion of Bo is D F B (not F Ab B) I guess you have a typo there.

So the answer it gave was D F# B for the ii chord. When I pressed that this chord isn't a diminished, it revised the answer and said the harmony stays D F B (no F#) and F# only appears in the soprano voice as a passing note the G#. So it agrees with what you said at the end of your first post:

OTOH you do get the raised 6th (F#) quite commonly as a lower neighbour decoration of the 7th (G#) in the cantizans voice in cadences. Many cases in Baroque music. Which leads to the use of the ascending form melodic minor on the V chord, something associated with - but not unique to - Bach.

[Christian Miller]

Yes, it's LLM's answer. But the first inversion of Bo is D F B (not F Ab B) I guess you have a typo there.

Ah yes, glad you got what I meant.

So the answer it gave was D F# B for the ii chord. When I pressed that this chord isn't a diminished, it revised the answer and said the harmony stays D F B (no F#) and F# only appears in the soprano voice as a passing note the G#. So it agrees with what you said at the end of your first post:

No, that wouldn't happen either. F# against F in the other voice is a false relation. You don't tend to get those in 18th century music. Thing's still hallucinating.

But yes the F# does tend to mostly get used as a passing tone on the way up to the 1 (or down in this case, classic ascending melodic minor used in descent over the dominant, from David Kellner - a contemporary of Bach who wrote for lute.)


Just a moment...

Here's an example of another way you might encounter a raised 6th in minor voice leading... Ascending 5-6 monte from the Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento (Job IJezerman) workbook. Which I'd highly recommend as primer.

[PMB]

In the jazz world, Lester Young and Charlie Christian immediately come to mind when thinking about natural minor on a tonic chord/line.

[Christian Miller]

In the jazz world, Lester Young and Charlie Christian immediately come to mind when thinking about natural minor on a tonic chord/line.

I believe Eddie Durham is the connection there. Underrated, but possibly the father of the minor 6th sound in jazz - I have heard it said, but can't track down my source. Certainly the minor 6 is all over that music.

In jazz minor 6th both as a I and IV minor sound. It is pretty much never used as a I minor sound in European music.

SO, here's the interesting thing. I came into playing Manouche jazz thinking that the minor chords are always minor 6ths. But in fact, I think the music back in the day (mid 30s) may have reserved the m6 for the IV chord. I've not been through all the stuff (yet...) but when I listen to Minor Swing I'm really not hearing a m6 chord in the rhythm guitars. Just plain minors.

In Django's lines I hear mostly plain triads on I. But I haven't been exhaustive, so I may be wrong. But Django was really formatively shaped by the harmony of things like Bal Musette waltzes. So European harmony.

You hear a bit more of that sound come through in tunes like Douce Ambiance - the melody on the bridge - but not in the soloing... But it's interesting. Obviously that tune is from the 40s, and by then Django had probably heard people like Charlie Christian.

So I buy that the minor 6 on I was an innovation of the Kansas city style.

[PMB]

Charlie Parker picked up the minor 6th sound from Lester Young. CP plays the raised 6th regularly in the solos over his tonic minor tune (a rarity in his catalogue) Segment. One of the most memorable lines comes up in the 2nd 'A' section of the 2nd chorus - a killer lick that hits hard on that degree. It's so strong I sometimes wonder if its a quote from some other tune:

[pauln]

I could be wrong but I hear him play the 6th of Am
during Am, and he also comps Am6 during the Am

Django accents the end of a line phrase with a 6
(F#) on the first down beat of Am chord at 1:05-6

He comps (fast four-strum bursts) Am6 at 1:54-5

[brent.h]

I might be wrong about all this.

In terms frequency, I feel like I hear a lot more min6 in CC's playing. He'd use the sound on almost every chance he gets when playing minor key tunes. Prez, not always; he likes his 1-2-b3-4-5 runs/lines a lot more.

In terms of prominence, lots of times CC likes to either land or hammer away at the 6. Again, not always for Prez. If I remember correctly, more often than not, Prez likes using the 6 as part of his minor triad sound. When Prez hammers the 6, it's usually the major key tunes.

Not sure about Eddie Durham. I'm listening to his playing on Kansas City 5/6 right now... I don't hear much min6 though. His lines sound very bluesy and 'chord-shape' (wide intervals and quite angular) to me. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if Durham's shapes-playing might have spurred CC to hear and emphasise the min6 in his lines.

[Christian Miller]

I might be wrong about all this.

In terms frequency, I feel like I hear a lot more min6 in CC's playing. He'd use the sound on almost every chance he gets when playing minor key tunes. Prez, not always; he likes his 1-2-b3-4-5 runs/lines a lot more.

In terms of prominence, lots of times CC likes to either land or hammer away at the 6. Again, not always for Prez. If I remember correctly, more often than not, Prez likes using the 6 as part of his minor triad sound. When Prez hammers the 6, it's usually the major key tunes.

Not sure about Eddie Durham. I'm listening to his playing on Kansas City 5/6 right now... I don't hear much min6 though. His lines sound very bluesy and 'chord-shape' (wide intervals and quite angular) to me. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if Durham's shapes-playing might have spurred CC to hear and emphasise the min6 in his lines.

I really wish I could find the article that made this claim.

Eddie Durham was an electric guitar pioneer for sure, but he also wrote many of the early Basie arrangements. So things like Topsy.


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[Christian Miller]

I could be wrong but I hear him play the 6th of Am
during Am, and he also comps Am6 during the Am

Django accents the end of a line phrase with a 6
(F#) on the first down beat of Am chord at 1:05-6

He comps (fast four-strum bursts) Am6 at 1:54-5

Good catch. That’s a particularly juicy example at 1:05

I think the chord shape thing came from his physical restrictions. He ended up playing 6s and 6/9s and things almost by default.

But it’s a lot less of this than in Charlie Christian for instance.

So, I wonder where he got that sound from if anywhere?

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[Tal_175]

I plagiarized this from another forum. A chorale harmonization in B minor. The raised 6th (G#) appears in the second full bar (bass). It creates a first inversion of E major chord. So we get IVmaj V I in minor. The bass motion is what would today be called ascending melodic minor.

So the pick up is secondary dominant of IV (E minor). Then secondary dominant of V followed by this IVmaj V I movement.



theory - Functional analysis of chorale 'Wie wunderbarlich ist doch diese Strafe' BWV 244/46 - Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange

[Christian Miller]

I plagiarized this from another forum. A chorale harmonization in B minor. The raised 6th (G#) appears in the second full bar (bass). It creates a first inversion of E major chord. So we get IVmaj V I in minor. The bass motion is what would today be called ascending melodic minor.

So the pick up is secondary dominant of IV (E minor). Then secondary dominant of V followed by this IVmaj V I movement.



theory - Functional analysis of chorale 'Wie wunderbarlich ist doch diese Strafe' BWV 244/46 - Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange

Standard for that scale degree - 6 3 chord on the raised sixth.

See the rule for the octave I posted above in the first comment on this thread. In that case it’s C/E in the key of G minor, moving to the 6 5 on the F#, D7/F#

The Bach example is like a rule of the octave with chromatic passing tones. Nice example!

Seriously - learn the rule of the octave. It’s like the vanilla default for 18th century harmony.

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[Tal_175]

Standard for that scale degree - 6 3 chord on the raised sixth.

See the rule for the octave I posted above in the first comment on this thread. In that case it’s C/E in the key of G minor, moving to the 6 5 on the F#, D7/F#

The Bach example is like a rule of the octave with chromatic passing tones. Nice example!

Seriously - learn the rule of the octave. It’s like the vanilla default for 18th century harmony.

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Yes, the example in your first post has the exact same motion. The fifth full bar is IV maj in the first inversion that goes to V to I (G minor). The bass note of the inverted IV chord is E (the raised 6th). The bassline is strict ascending melodic minor. Nice!

[Christian Miller]

Here’s two slightly less vanilla examples in A minor

The standard would be E D/F# E/G# Am in this key

The first from the Gigue in BWV997

Here we have a pedal E on top. The upper notes on the beat are appoggiaturas, ie accented neighbour tones - which are a feature of the whole piece. So we'll ignore those for our harmonic analysis.

So we are looking at
E F#-7b5 (incomplete) E/G# Am in modern terms.



The second is from the Double on the same(ish) bassline that immediately follows.


The idea of a Double is an interesting one - it's kind of like a variation on the dance that precedes it, usually in faster note values. It's easy to see how that might of come from improvisation - a bit like a written out solo on the changes of the previous movement.

That D# E figure at the top is interesting. I see it as an ornament of the pedal in the first example, a non harmonic lower neighbour but the D# following after the D so quickly is a spicy effect

(so called cross relation - and on the guitar you might end up sounding the D against it? Kind of contradicts what I said earlier. Hey ho.)

Chordally it’s the same sort of thing. The chords run

E7 F#-7b5 E7/G# Am in jazz terms

But I'm looking at the counterpoint. Really both are based on an ascending tenth with a pedal on top (that starts as an octave of the first bass note). Bach really liked this device. It's kind of a fixture of the whole suite, if you look at the Prelude for instance.

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[Christian Miller]

Because I am very bored today, I wrote this alternative Rule of the Octave based on some of the voice leading in BWV997. Might be fun to play with.



There's an amazing page in JS Bach's son, CPE Bach's book on playing keyboard that has a whole slew of RO variants with the advice to 'go nuts' basically (I paraphrase). You need to read figures though, I'm in the process of translating it into guitar language.

[docsteve]

You can already find it in Dowland, if not in the melody, then in the figurations. In my humble opinion, the raised sixth is there to avoid the minor third that would otherwise go between the #7 and the natural 6.


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[Christian Miller]

You can already find it in Dowland, if not in the melody, then in the figurations. In my humble opinion, the raised sixth is there to avoid the minor third that would otherwise go between the #7 and the natural 6.


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Yeah, absolutely, here's an example from the Earl Of Essex his Galliard, (a piece which I have played to actual people on occasion). There’s also a bit of what we might call Dorian as well.



So, it's not always enforced, you do get that leap but it's usually in places where it's not that prominent, and it tends to avoided in melodies and basses.

Musicians before the 19th century didn't really think in terms of 'harmonic minor', 'melodic minor' and so on, because these terms were all introduced after 1800. I'd say how they did think, but to be absolutely honest, I find it very difficult to get my head around it. For instance, there's a lot of stuff with hexachordal solfeggio and so on. But there's books if you want to go down that rabbit hole.

What I gather is that they really look at things as a modification of the prevailing scale, not a three different minor scales in the way we look at it today.

[pauln]

Good catch. That’s a particularly juicy example at 1:05

I think the chord shape thing came from his physical restrictions. He ended up playing 6s and 6/9s and things almost by default.

But it’s a lot less of this than in Charlie Christian for instance.

So, I wonder where he got that sound from if anywhere?

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Yeah, that F# at 1:05 is brilliant!

As far as the origin of the sound
I notice that Stéphane Grappelli
was ending tunes with the violin
harmonics thingy ending on 6th.

[Bob_Ross]

In Bach’s minor-mode writing, the raised 6th (nat6) almost always appears in the predominant region — specifically in ii°6 or iv-derived predominant sonorities — before the music moves to the dominant. This is consistent with standard Bach-style voice-leading practice, where nat6 is used to smooth an ascending melodic line and to prepare the dominant without creating the augmented 2nd.

I don't think I have ever encountered the word "predominant" used to describe ^^^that musical scenario.

[GuyBoden]

Amin6 = A F# C E

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, you can carefully choose notes from the A Melodic minor scale to play over Amin6.

[Cunamara]

Or A Dorian.