2019-07-01_Computer_Music

NEXT MONTH Dave shows us how to fit a chord progression to a melody

IT’S ONLY NATURAL

Technically, the relative major/minor relationshiponly

holds true when dealing with the naturalminorscaleas

the minor half of the relationship. Melodicorharmonic

minor scales have different interval patternsandthus

contain different notes, so the two majorandminor

scales would no longer share the same notes.When

dealing with parallel scales, however, sincetheonly

common tone is the root note, melodic andharmonic

minor scales can still be considered.

FLAT RESPONSE

A good rule of thumb for transforming anymajorscale

into its parallel minor equivalent is simplytoflattenthe

third, sixth, and seventh degrees of the scale.Onthe

other hand, the same transformation canbeappliedto

a minor scale by sharpening those samescaledegrees

to create its parallel major scale.

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DaveClews

In the next four bars, I’ve modulated

to the key of C major, using a I - IV - ii -

V progression that translates to C - F - Dm -

G. These chords are all diatonic to both

keys, so they sound in keeping with what

we’ve heard so far, but there’s been a

distinct shift in tonal centre from A to C,

and in mood (from minor to major).

7

Let’s return to our C majorscalefora

moment. If we start fromC butapply

the interval pattern of a naturalminor

scale (T-S-T-T- S -T-T ) , w e geta C natural

minor scale. This works outtoCDEF GA

B. The C major and C naturalminorscales

are said to be parallel scalesbecausethey

share the root note of C.

8

If wenowharmoniseboththesescales

togetoursetsofdiatonictriads,we

canseethatweendupwithtwodifferent

setsofchordsduetotheflattenednotes

presentintheminorscale.Thesesetsare

thechordsthatarediatonicto,orbelong

to,theirrespectivekeys– thekeyofC

majorandthekeyofC minor.

9

This means that if we run out of

chords to use in a song that’s in the

key of C major, we could theoretically use

or ‘borrow’ any of the diatonic chords for

C minor. C major’s diatonic set consists of

C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and Bº, while C minor’s

chords are Cm, Dº, E, Fm, Gm, A and B.

10

So how might this workinpractice?

This example chord progressioninC

major contains the chordsC - F - Am- G.It

works well enough using thesediatonic

chords, but we can make ita bitmore

interesting by the additionofsomechords

borrowed from the parallelkeyofC minor.

11

Inthisversion,I’vealteredthesecond

halftoincludechordsfromthekeyof

C minor,namelyE, AandB. Thewhole

progressionnowfollowsC - F - Am- G - E-

A- A- B. Thenotesinthebassparthave

shiftedtothoseoftheparentscaleofthe

parallelkeyofC minortoemphasisethe

change.

12

ZEDD FEAT. LIZ -

HOURGLASS

Too many borrowed chords to

list, trading off between C major

and minor keys, as a prominent

initial C major chord shifts to A,

back to C9, then Cm and A.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE -

MIRRORS

A shining example of relative key

modulation used to define song

sections, with verses in the key of

C minor and choruses in E major.

bit.ly/ZftL_HG

bit.ly/JT_Mrrs

July 2019 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 71

easy guide / make music now <