harmonic minor and film score music

[Dr.Off_Zalui]

hi guys... i read all the forums regularly, but i dont write at all, no reason actually
anyway, in my music school were putting up a cover version to the batman theme by danny elfman
and i've noticed a big use of harmonic minor, but in such way that won't give its "arabian" sound, but giving it a"film music" sound

how does that work?!

oh, and exuce my english... 10x :cool:

[MontgomeryGoo]

i've always considered the harmonic minor to give an egyptian sound to things. look at Iron Maiden's Powerslave!

[Schmaus]

well if you dont want it to sound like harmonic just dont play the raised seventh.

but that wouldnt accomplish too much. mise well play in normal minor or whatever anyways

[volothamp]

The harmonic minor scale is used in all classical music (Vivaldi,Bach,Etc..)

If you want to avoid the "arabian" effect try not to use a lot the 6°-7° passage, and use the major7 only on the dominant chords.

Bye! :)

[brianhitscar]

Sometimes harmonic minor is used simply for harmony and not in the melody at all (harmony... harmonic...) It sounds stronger to have a V to i rather than a v to i in teh cadence of a piece.

[Los Boleros]

I love the harmonic minor. I use it alot in my latin music. Its not only used in the dominant chord of a minor key. {as in E7 in the key of Am} There are other kool places to use it.

In A minor it is used over the A minor chord.
In A minor it is used over the dominant chord E7.
In A minor it is used when Am becomes A7 just before going to Dm. (in this case you use D harmonic minor)
In A minor it is used over F when you drop the third to make F minor.
it is used in A minor when the F is played as F7 as in a 6-5-1 turn around. [in this case use A diminished. over the F7 and G# Diminished over the E7]
it is used in A minor when the B is played as B7 as in a 2-5-1 turn around. [in this case use A diminished. over the B7 and G# Diminished over the E7]


There are many places you can use the harmonic minor. It is good to experiment. There is one thing though, Do not experiment with any harmonic minor if your house is possessed by evil spirits or if your religion does not allow it.

[Alex_]

Any scale can really be used so not to focus on its characteristic (in this case, the Egyptian sound) its about how much you use it..

The Harmonic Minor scale, its characteristic, the only one that seperates it from other scales is that augmented second interval between the 6th note and the 7th note, if you only occassionaly play that, you wont get as much of an obvious sound (like in film music).

But if your one of these rockers who loves that sound, theyre gonna throw that interval in everywhere.

***

Just like in other music, if you use lots of major third intervals, its gonna be a really happy piece of music, but still, if its in a major key and you use a minor interval a lot, say E to G, then its less happy, same scale, same key, but a different sound. Thats what great composers can do, manipulate things and make them different without changing what they use, wheras others, use one scale, all music using that scale will sound simelar.

[Los Boleros]

In A minor it is used over the A minor chord.
In A minor it is used over the dominant chord E7.
In A minor it is used when Am becomes A7 just before going to Dm. (in this case you use D harmonic minor)
In A minor it is used over F when you drop the third to make F minor.
it is used in A minor when the F is played as F7 as in a 6-5-1 turn around. [in this case use A diminished. over the F7 and G# Diminished over the E7]
it is used in A minor when the B is played as B7 as in a 2-5-1 turn around. [in this case use A diminished. over the B7 and G# Diminished over the E7]

~
From a scalar perspective you are right Alex, A harmonic minor has the G raised to a G#. Hence a raised seventh.

But if A minor were used in the key of C major, then the G# would be a raised fifth.

When A minor becomes A7 right before D minor, the scale changes again and you get a Bb and a C#. In A minor you could say flat nine and sharp third.