IDS: Harmonic Minor 7ths
Today as part of my IDS project, I learned and experimented with he unique sound of harmonic 7ths, and how to utilize them.
First of, the harmonic minor scale, which is also known as the Nahawand, Buselik Hicaz, or the Raga Kirwani, is essentially just the minor scale with a raised leading tone(seventh note).
It gets its Western name from being used in multiple minor key chord harmonies, but has seen melodic use by Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert. It’s also used in multiple pop songs, such as “My Pregorative” and “Please Me”, and in jazz music, especially by Miles Davis. Additionally, it is frequently used in metal music, and has spawned an entire subgenre of ‘neoclassical metal’, with artists such as Chuck Schuldiner and Ritchie Blackmore creating haunting riffs with its unique tonality.
And it’s that unique tonality which is the main subject of this post, seeing as I have used it in my pieces multiple times. While I haven’t used the harmonic minor for its ‘intended’ function of, well, harmonizing, I have used it a lot in my melodies. Particularly important to using the scale like this is of course the 7th, which I used frequently to create a ‘cliffhanger’ not fully resolved ending, such as in the end of the motif in my folk-inspired tune, and in the transition between the intro and verse in ‘Machine Hell’.
