Lesson 2: Major and Minor Scales, Part II
	Major and Minor Scales: Telling the Difference There are two big clues that we can use to hear the difference between major and minor scales. The most obvious difference is found in the upper part of the scale, between notes five and eight. In both versions of the minor scale, something strange happens there. With the harmonic minor scale we have the tense, stretched interval of the step and a half between the sixth and seventh notes, and with the melodic minor scale we have different versions on the way up and on the way down. Listening to the upper part of the scale can be very helpful when listening to raw scales, but in actual music this method becomes less reliable. Mainly this is because melodies often don't consist of complete scales going up and down. Instead, it will be more helpful (and more related to meanings of major and minor found later) to focus on the bottom part of the scale. In particular, of the first five notes of the scale, only one, the third note, is ever different between major and minor scales.     Notice especially the relationship between the third notes and the first. The interval between them is a third -- in the major scale this third is a major third, and in the minor scale(s) (of all types) it is a minor third. Listen a few times to that last example until you feel that you have a good grasp of the difference. Now listen again to some examples of complete major and minor scales. So long as you know that the scale you will hear will be either major or minor, you don't need to hear the whole scale -- you can tell as soon as you've heard the third note.       Practicing Hearing Major and Minor Scales The construction of major and minor scales is one of the more complicated topics in this mini-course. Although it has required more explanation, the focus of the lesson is not on understanding concepts, but on preparing you to learn to hear the difference between major and minor scales. It is in the training environment that you will learn how to do this. Before going there, listen to the major and minor scales below a few times. You will not be asked to tell the difference between melodic minor and harmonic minor scales. You will hear each kind, but you will only need to identify them as minor scales. If you have trouble distinguishing the examples below, you may wish to review parts of this lesson, review the previous lesson, or go back to the previous lesson's training environment. When you feel ready, enter the training environment for major and minor scales. Continue with this environment, or with reviews, until you feel comfortable in your ability to distinguish major and minor scales reliably. Audio Example 2: Major scale Audio Example 3: Harmonic minor scale Audio Example 4: Melodic minor scale Review Sonic Glossary Entry Third Enter Training Environment   Summary Scales are ordered collections of tones that go stepwise up and down the octave. The first note of the scale is called the tonic. The two most important kinds of scale in tonal music are the major scale and the minor scale. The scale takes its name from the first note and the type of the scale, e.g. F major, E minor. There is one kind of major scale, but two musically important kinds of minor scale, the harmonic minor and the melodic minor. Major and minor scales are most easily distinguished by listening for the third tone of the scale.
	Copyright © Columbia University, 15 March 2000 Lesson 2 written by: John Ito Technology & Design: Maurice Matiz & Kristen Sosulski