56. The Melodic Minor Scale and the Existence of Non-Diatonic Chords

What Becomes Visible Through Learning About Minor

This time, building on everything we have covered about minor so far, we will analyze a famous song and notice "a certain thing," preparing for one of the ways of using non-diatonic chords that we will learn later.
You should also gradually start to see the non-diatonic chord content we touched on in Lesson 25.

Analyzing a Song That Uses the Melodic Minor Scale

This time, let's use this song as our subject.

Like "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)," which we used before, this is "Les Feuilles Mortes," performed and covered by people all over the world.
It is known in English as "Autumn Leaves" and in Japan as "Kareha," and these names may be more famous.

In the sample, the piano plays only the chord tones for simplicity, but the song is usually performed with all sorts of additions.

Let's start with the first half.
First, identify the key.
If you have the sheet music, you can easily identify it by looking at the positions of the sharps and flats.

A key with a sharp only on F is...

G major or E minor.

By the way, like "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)" from Lesson 25, doesn't this song also seem, "when you listen only to the chords," to shift from the bright mood of major to the cool, dark and melancholy feel of minor?

Changing the final Am7 to Am may make it easier to hear than the complex sound of a minor seventh.

• Ending on Am7
• Ending on Am

Let's listen again to this song with the melody removed and the tempo lowered.

It gives a similar impression.
But when you listen to it together with the melody...

It has a feel we haven't encountered before.
Let's focus on this first.

Let's assign Roman numerals so that it works in any key.
If you don't know the Roman numerals, refer to the following.

And this time, to keep it simple, let's check it in C major and A minor, using only the white keys.

• Melody

• Chords

The parts marked "???" follow the same flow as the part in "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)" that we said "can be viewed differently in later lessons."

Now that we have learned more than natural minor, it seems we can think about it in ways other than these Roman numerals.

It is the II-V-I (two-five-one) of the relative minor key.
Incidentally, the first half also contains a major II-V-I.

In this way, if you regard the chord built on the major key's "VII," the leading tone, as the chord built on the "II," the supertonic, of the relative minor key, and build a II-V-I from there, you can use it as a strong flow that is both a strong progression and has a sense of resolution.

This should also make diminished (triad) and minor seventh flat five (half-diminished seventh) chords easier to use, so be sure to incorporate them.

And when we look at the melody again,

There are other ways to describe it, but you can see that the notes are chosen from A melodic minor.
When composing original songs, you can of course choose from all kinds of scales, but be sure to analyze songs like this and expand your possibilities.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What is the difference between the melodic minor scale and the natural minor scale?

In the melodic minor scale, the 6th and 7th degrees are raised by a half step, giving it a brighter, more refined sound. The natural minor scale, by contrast, has a darker, more rustic sound. Choosing different scales when writing a melody can greatly change the impression even with the same chord progression.

Q2. What is the strong II-V-I progression used for?

II-V-I is the most basic and powerful chord progression in jazz and pop, serving to modulate to the next key or to strongly indicate direction within a song. It has a strong sense of resolution and is widely used as a progression that gives listeners a sense of stability and satisfaction.

Q3. Is there anything to watch out for when using non-diatonic chords?

Non-diatonic chords increase expressiveness, but if you don't understand how to use them, you lose coherence. It's important to first learn, through song analysis, in what contexts professional composers use them.