In music, the Phrygian dominant scale is the fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale, the fifth being the dominant. [1] Also called the altered Phrygian scale, dominant flat 2 flat 6 (in jazz), or Freygish scale (also spelled Fraigish [2] ). It resembles the Phrygian mode but with a major third, rather than a minor third.
In the Berklee method, it is known as the Mixolydian ♭9 ♭13 chord scale, a Mixolydian scale with a lowered 9th (2nd) and lowered 13th (6th), used in secondary dominant chord scales for V7/III and V7/VI.
Built on C, the scale is as follows.
When related to the scale degrees of the major scale, it reads:
The sequence of steps forming the Phrygian dominant scale is:
This scale occurs in Indian, Middle Eastern, Balkan, Eastern European, Central Asian, and flamenco music. It is common in Arabic and Egyptian music, in which it is called Hijaz-Nahawand or Hijaz maqam , [3] and used in Hebrew prayers and Klezmer music, where it is known as Ahava Rabbah, Freygish or just the "Jewish scale", and is called Dastgāh-e Homāyoun in Iran.[ citation needed ] It is the most common scale in North Indian classical raga Hijaz Bhairav (Basant Mukhari) and South Indian raga Vakulabharanam . [4]
It is sometimes called the Spanish Phrygian scale, Spanish Gypsy scale (see: gypsy scale) or Phrygian major scale (see: phrygian mode and major scale) and is common in flamenco music. [5] It can also be found in traditional Spanish songs outside flamenco, everywhere in Spain to varying amounts, but especially in southern and central areas of the country, often being also known as escala andaluza (Andalusian scale) in Spanish. [6] Related scales in Spanish traditional music with chromatic notes in the second degree, varying between a semitone and a tone, are also known as "gama española" ("Spanish gamut") or "gama de Castilla y León" (gamut of Castile and León) and, though found all over Spain, are particularly common in Castilian and Leonese traditional songs. [6]
The flatted second and the augmented second between the second and third scale degrees of the scale create its distinctive sound. Examples include some versions of "Hava Nagila", [1] "Sha Shtil" and "Misirlou", while other versions of those melodies use the closely related "double harmonic scale". [2] The main chords derived from this scale are I, ♭II, iv, and vii. [2]
When the Freygish scale is used in Klezmer music, the sixth degree may be left unflatted if it is melodically approached and left from above, [7] or the seventh degree may be raised as well.
The Phrygian dominant scale is often used in jazz composition and improvisation over secondary dominants of minor chords in a major key, such as the VI7 chord in a VI7-ii7-V7-I progression. Some modal jazz compositions, such as "Nardis" by Miles Davis, are composed in the Phrygian dominant mode.
In music theory, the term mode or modus is used in a number of distinct senses, depending on context.
An altered chord is a chord that replaces one or more notes from the diatonic scale with a neighboring pitch from the chromatic scale. By the broadest definition, any chord with a non-diatonic chord tone is an altered chord. The simplest example of altered chords is the use of borrowed chords, chords borrowed from the parallel key, and the most common is the use of secondary dominants. As Alfred Blatter explains, "An altered chord occurs when one of the standard, functional chords is given another quality by the modification of one or more components of the chord."
A jazz scale is any musical scale used in jazz. Many "jazz scales" are common scales drawn from Western European classical music, including the diatonic, whole-tone, octatonic, and the modes of the ascending melodic minor. All of these scales were commonly used by late nineteenth and early twentieth-century composers such as Rimsky-Korsakov, Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky, often in ways that directly anticipate jazz practice. Some jazz scales, such as the bebop scales, add additional chromatic passing tones to the familiar diatonic scales.
In music, the subtonic is the degree of a musical scale which is a whole step below the tonic note. In a major key, it is a lowered, or flattened, seventh scale degree. It appears as the seventh scale degree in the natural minor and descending melodic minor scales but not in the major scale. In major keys, the subtonic sometimes appears in borrowed chords. In the movable do solfège system, the subtonic note is sung as te.
Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek harmoniai or tonoi, based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; or a modern musical mode or diatonic scale, related to the medieval mode.
The Phrygian mode can refer to three different musical modes: the ancient Greek tonos or harmonia, sometimes called Phrygian, formed on a particular set of octave species or scales; the medieval Phrygian mode, and the modern conception of the Phrygian mode as a diatonic scale, based on the latter.
In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord, is a seventh chord, usually built on the fifth degree of the major scale, and composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. Thus it is a major triad together with a minor seventh, denoted by the letter name of the chord root and a superscript "7". An example is the dominant seventh chord built on G, written as G7, having pitches G–B–D–F:
A borrowed chord is a chord borrowed from the parallel key. Borrowed chords are typically used as "color chords", providing harmonic variety through contrasting scale forms, which are major scales and the three forms of minor scales. Chords may also be borrowed from other parallel modes besides the major and minor mode, for example D Dorian with D major. The mixing of the major and minor modes developed in the Baroque period.
A heptatonic scale is a musical scale that has seven pitches, or tones, per octave. Examples include:
The Andalusian cadence is a term adopted from flamenco music for a chord progression comprising four chords descending stepwise – a iv–III–II–I progression with respect to the Phrygian mode or i–VII–VI–V progression with respect to the Aeolian mode (minor). It is otherwise known as the minor descending tetrachord. Traceable back to the Renaissance, its effective sonorities made it one of the most popular progressions in classical music.
The term Gypsy scale refers to one of several musical scales named after their support of and association with Romani or "Gypsy" music:
In music, the acoustic scale, overtone scale, Lydian dominant scale, or the Mixolydian ♯4 scale is a seven-note synthetic scale. It is the fourth mode of the ascending melodic minor scale.
In music theory, the half-diminished seventh chord is a seventh chord composed of a root note, together with a minor third, a diminished fifth, and a minor seventh. For example, the half-diminished seventh chord built on B, commonly written as Bm7(♭5), or Bø7, has pitches B-D-F-A:
In jazz, a turnaround is a passage at the end of a section which leads to the next section. This next section is most often the repetition of the previous section or the entire piece or song.
The double harmonic major scale is a musical scale with a flattened second and sixth degree. This is also known as Mayamalavagowla, Bhairav Raga, Byzantine scale, Arabic, and Gypsy major. It can be likened to a gypsy scale because of the diminished step between the 1st and 2nd degrees. Arabic scale may also refer to any Arabic mode, the simplest of which, however, to Westerners, resembles the double harmonic major scale.
In music theory, the flamenco mode is a harmonized mode or scale abstracted from its use in flamenco music. In other words, it is the collection of pitches in ascending order accompanied by chords representing the pitches and chords used together in flamenco songs and pieces. The key signature is the same as that of the Phrygian mode, with the raised third and seventh being written in as necessary with accidentals. Its modal/tonal characteristics are prominent in the Andalusian cadence.
In music, the Ukrainian Dorian scale is a modified minor scale with raised 4th and 6th, and lowered 7th degrees, often with a variable 4th degree. It has traditionally been common in the music of Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean including Jewish, Greek, Ukrainian, and Romanian music. Because of its widespread use, this scale has been known by a variety of names including Altered Dorian, Hutsul mode and Mi Sheberach. It is also closely related to the Nikriz pentachord found in Turkish or Arabic maqam systems.
The jazz minor scale or ascending melodic minor scale is a derivative of the melodic minor scale, except only the ascending form of the scale is used. As the name implies, it is primarily used in jazz, although it may be found in other types of music as well. It may be derived from the major scale with a minor third, making it a synthetic scale, and features a dominant seventh chord on the fifth degree (V) like the harmonic minor scale. It can also be derived from the diatonic Dorian mode with a major seventh.
The Aeolian dominant scale, Mixolydian ♭6 scale, descending melodic major scale, or Hindu scale is the fifth mode of the ascending melodic minor scale. It is named Aeolian dominant because its sound derives from having a dominant seventh chord on the tonic in the context of what is otherwise the Aeolian mode.
The Hungarian major scale is a heptatonic scale subset of the octatonic scale with an omitted ♭2 degree. It has the following interval structure in semitones: 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, giving it the notes C D♯ E F♯ G A B♭ in the key of C. It is, "used extensively in Hungarian gypsy music [sic]", as well as in classical music by composers including Franz Liszt and Zoltán Kodály ," as well as in Thea Musgrave's Horn Concerto (1971). As a chord scale, Hungarian Major is both a dominant and a diminished scale, with a fully diminished seventh chord composed of C, D#, F#, and A, and a dominant seventh chord composed of C, E, G, and Bb. This is an enharmonic mode of Bb Harmonic Major, along with G Harmonic Minor and E Hungarian Minor. The root note of D Aeolian Dominant is raised a semitone to D#, and the root note of B Phrygian Dominant lowered a semitone to Bb. There is also a ♮6 & ♮2 with the Bb Super Lydian Augmented scale, lowering the C# & G# to C♮ & G♮.