Here’s another beautiful melody from the Bach 2 part inversions that comes from the harmonic minor scale. In this lesson I sing the phrase in one key (concert Ab minor) and then play it through all 12 keys. I really enjoy listening to the intervals in this line. It works nicely displaced in triplets too. Strangely, for me, the hardest part about learning this melody was singing from the flat 13 to the natural 11 (in the key) which is the same as the b9 to the b7 over the dominant (V7b9,b13).
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If you do try to learn this idea and sing it, see if that interval in this particular melodic/harmonic context is hard for you too. I kept wanting to go to the minor 3rd or the 5th of the key instead of the natural 11, but I finally got it and started to hear it … maybe it’s just a human thing or maybe it’s just and ‘old dog new tricks’ thing. I learned this melody years ago but only really played it in one key. When looking for something to practice in my head last week while doing the elliptical, I realized I never really sat down with it and sang it or put it through the keys. There’s something very stimulating to the ear and mind when working on Bach material, he seems to have a layered, and detailed grasp of sound even when working with a very small kernel of his music. There’s a pdf of the melody below.
~Enjoy!
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matt – really great lessons, just found your web site and have listened to a few of them. very nice!
don
Houston, tx