Hello Guys,

I was working on this song (What Child is this?)which is in E minor and I realized the new arranger includes Db and Eb as melody notes. How come? These two notes are not part of the E min scale. By the way, Here are all the melody notes he used: E, F#, G, A, B, C, Db, D, Eb. Now, that's confusing. Is he using different types of E min scales here based on these melody notes? Please help

kiking,

Try playing the Db and Eb as naturals D and E.

Now doesn't that sound ugly?



Without the benefit of the sheet music in front of me, I'd say the arranger uses the other notes so the song sounds like it suppose to sound.

In my observations over the years, some sheet music does have typos. When I suspect a typo, I would confirm the mistake by comparing the same song published by a different publisher.

actually, minor scales come in various types...

natural minor, or the aeolian mode
E F# G A B C D
matches the key signature

E harmonic minor
E F# G A B C D# E (ascending)
this scale allows for the progression i iv V to contain a V dominant (B7) chord, which is very typical, and this way the leading tone (D#) has a strong pull back to the root.

E melodic minor
E F# G A B C# D# E

this scale is almost a hybrid of the major and minor scales... like a major scale with a minor 3... again, the top notes lead strongly back to the root like in a major scale... i IV V is possible in this progression...

What child of this contains elements of this melodic minor scale and the natural minor, playing around with the leading tone and teasing us by changing modality.

My guess is that the enharmonic equivalents (Db = C# and Eb = D#) are what the arranger intended. Most likely, these note are used in the context of the V7 chord (B7) as part of the melodic minor scale E F# G A B C# D# E.

And don't forget the Dorian E minor scale:

E F# G A B C# D

Most pop tunes use a hybrid of chords derived from minor scale harmony.

In C- it's typicaly like this:

C- (D-) Eb F (or F-) G (or G-) Ab Bb

Jazz and American Songbook tunes handle it differently:

C-6 D-7b5 Eb7#11 F7 (or F-7) G7b9 A-7b5 (or AbMaj7) Bdim7