Scott Paul Johnson
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Community Challenge 29 | Write something in harmonic minor
🕑 Added 2022-01-18 21:03:37 +0000 UTCNew here? Wondering where to start? Click here for my Patreon start page, or here for my recommended lesson plan.
Hi Everyone,
Welcome, especially to new folks who joined over the holiday season!
My schedule got a little wonky while I was in the Seattle area for the holidays so I might have missed posting a Community Challenge last week, but let's get back into it!
What is the weekly Community Challenge? It's a chance for you, my Patron, to practice doing the single most important thing a musician can do: create music.
Sometimes it's a general call to make some sad music, happy music, weird music - sometimes the challenge is to use a specific theory concept or write in a specific key.
Your skills as a musician will explode when you're able to create an example of a given music theory concept rather than just explain it with words. Plus its fun!
The other reason this is so important is because music is yours. What do I mean? Your first language is yours. You think in that language. Imagine the difference between saying what is on your mind and memorizing a travel phrase. Anyone can memorize a travel phrase like "Where is the bathroom?" but only you can say what is on your mind.
Obviously, travel phrases are very useful when learning a new language and with music, learning a new song might be similar to learning a travel phrase. Very important for your growth and understanding as a musician. But writing music is more like speaking your mind. It takes practice, it can be scary at first, but ultimately the more you do it, the easier it gets!
In this particular challenge, I'd like you to: write something in harmonic minor.
Now, to be more specific, I might call it "write something that uses harmonic minor." If you've watched my Music Theory Monday Series, you're familiar with the harmonic minor scale and the resulting chords that come with. If you haven't watched that series yet, I recommend at least watching the first three episodes or so.
For example I'll use the key of B Minor
Natural B Minor uses these notes:
B C# D E F# G A B
and has these chords:
i = Bm
ii° = C#°
III = D
iv = Em
v = F#m
VI = G
VII = A
harmonic minor scales use a sharp 7th note like this:
B C# D E F# G A# B
And the most significant impact this has on our chords-in-a-key is that the v chord (F#m) becomes a major V chord, but more specifically, it becomes a dominant 7th chord (F#7) which resolves back to i (Bm) beautifully.
You are welcome to participate in whatever capacity you like! Wether you write a fully complete song with guitar, lyrics, bass, drums or you just record an 8 second rough sketch to your phone, all submissions are equally welcome. The only requirement is that you write it AFTER reading this post.
I'm going to be pretty flexible on the other "rules" here because harmonic and melodic minor get thrown together in the same situations often, but to put it simply:
if you write a chord progression starting with natural minor chords, then just turn the V chord dominant, you've essentially written a harmonic minor chord progression.
Melodically, if you write a melody over that progression and make sure the 7th note of the scale is sharp when then V chord is happening, you've basically written a harmonic minor melody over your progression!
Post your creations on the community forum!
Keep in mind you're welcome to participate in any previous community challenge at any time!
Check out the Lesson Archive for more Community Challenges
