The Melodic Minor Scale
The ascending melodic minor scale contains raised 6th and 7th degrees, neither of which appear in the key signature. In the key of A minor, these notes are F# and G#. Both notes are notated as accidentals. The following example demonstrates two octaves of the A melodic minor scale with each hand. Remember that the 7th and 6th degrees fall by a semitone when the scale descends.
Melodic Minor Scale Tone Chords
The next example shows the scale tone chords derived from the A melodic minor scale. Because of the sharpened 6th degree, there will be more changes to the types of chords derived from this scale. Chord II is now minor (Bm) instead of major, chord IV is major (D) instead of minor and chord VI is diminished (F#dim) instead of major. These changes are all brought about by the raising of the 6th degree of the scale from F to F#.
The Six Eight Time Signature
This is the six eight time signature. There are six eighth notes in one bar of ) time. The six eighth notes are divided into two groups of three.
When playing ) time there are two beats within each bar, with each beat being a dotted quarter note. Note that this is different from * time. and ^ time, where each beat is a quarter note. Accent (play louder) the 1 and 4 count to help establish the two beats per bar.
When playing music in minor keys, it is common to use chords from all three types of minor scales. A good example of this is the song House of the Rising Sun. Look through the chords and see which ones come from each type of minor scale.
The Two Four Time Signature
This is the two four time signature. It tells you there are two beats in each bar. In % time the note and rest values must add up to the equivalent of two quarter notes per bar.
To end this section, here is a beautiful piece by Robert Schumann which is written in % time. It is in the key of E minor and contains chords from all three minor scale types. This piece contains a variety of musical terms and expressions. Take your time with it and learn the notes first without worrying about the tempo and dynamic markings. Practice any difficult parts one hand at a time and then play both hands together very slowly, bar by bar. Once you are confident you can play through the whole piece without mistakes, work on it concentrating purely on the expressive aspect, observing all the markings and exaggerating them at first until you have control of them.
Rubato
When you play solo pieces, you don’t have to keep such strict time as when you are playing with others. Sometimes you may wish to increase or decrease the tempo at certain points for dramatic effect. This is called rubato. Feel free to experiment with the time as you play, but make sure you are doing it for musical expression rather than because of technical inadequacies (e.g., slowing down for the difficult parts and speeding up for the easy parts - this is not a musical reason for using rubato!)
