Today was the bebop melodic minor scale — as always, recalling Barry Harris — RIP.

  • in contrary motion — that is, the left hand ascends while the right hand descends (and vice-versa)
  • in all 12 keys.

Some keys were definitely harder than others. D was a hard key. There were others, which I should note next time around.

From the Wiki (link above) I note:

  • this scale has all the notes from both the harmonic and melodic minor scales. (Kinda nifty?)
  • the fully diminished chord on the II of the scale has a strong dominant function.

Symmetry

Meditating more on that diminished chord on the II of the scale, I note:

  • for the bebop major scale
    • I can walk the entire scale alternating between the I Major 6 and ii full diminished
  • for the bebop melodic minor scale
    • I can walk the entire scale alternating between the I minor 6 and ii full diminished

In both cases I can think of this, equivalently, as either:

  • move each note up the scale, or
  • simply taking the next inversion of the alternate chord.

This begins to have huge power once I start doing, like, “drop 2 voicings” (and of course this is the tip of the iceberg that Barry Harris showed in some of the videos I’ve seen on YouTube).

I think that this symmetry is a big deal in his system.

Man, so many ways to look at this stuff.