Explaining minor scales and melodic minor scales

Explaining minor scales and melodic minor scales how to#

I've never been quite sure how helpful it is for students to practice major and minor scales the way they are required to be learned in conventional teaching methods. In addition, although the harmonic form of F# minor also uses the A major (and minor) fingerings, when only the third is flatted, conforming to the ascending melodic minor, the fingering switches, and I find that very difficult to teach.ДЈ. An immediate problem: when a major scale starts on a white note, such as A Major, and it's relative minor starts on a black note (F# minor), then the major and natural minor do use the same fingerings. Therefore I would prefer to teach a major scale with its parallel minor scales.Дў.

Neither A major nor A minor is related to the C scales by fingering. C Major and the different forms of the C minor scale share the same conventional fingerings. Here are some problems, for me as a teacher:ДЎ. The caption, I believe is: 'And then a miracle occurred.'

Explaining minor scales and melodic minor scales how to#

The problem with this, for me, is that it reminds me of the rather famous cartoon that shows a horribly difficult mathematical problem on the left, a simple solution on the right and NO idea about how to get there. Hannon teaches each scale by showing the major scale then its relative minor. And teaching scales has always been a huge weakness for me. In fact, after 35 years of teaching, I feel as though I'm just scratching the surface. In another thread I mentioned 'bad habits', and perhaps people got the idea there that I think all bad habits come from other teachers and that everything I do is 'just fine'. She is a very bright lady and actually has a fairly good mind for theory, but she is very impatient and kept bombarding me with a new question before I had a chance to answer the last one. Just two weeks ago a lady I teach, who I believe is close to 70 years-old, suddenly wanted me to explain the whole concept of minor scales.