MINOR SCALES IN MUSIC

The Minor scales have been classified mainly into three categories. They are Natural Minor, Melodic Minor & the Harmonic Minor.

Natural Minor three notes get flattened & they are E, A & B. For the scale C natural Minor we can write the scale structure as C,D,Eb,F,G,Ab,Bb & C.

For Harmonic minor two notes gets flattened & they are note E & note A. For the scale C Harmonic minor we can write it as C,D,Eb,F,G,Ab,B & C.

For Melodic Minor its a bit confusing to grasp. There is a clear difference in the ascending & descending order of the scale.

Ascending order is C,D,Eb, F,G,A,B & C

Descending order is C,D,Eb,F,G,Ab,Bb& C

This I have explained in the video attached here with.

SORRY FOR THE PREVIOUS POST

The renditions were in the scales of A minor & C minor. It was a mistake for mentioning the key as C major .

BAHARON PHOOL BARSAO IN ' A minor & C - MAJOR '

Please listen to the harmonica renditions of the above song in both A minor & C minor scales played by me with the help of my Suzuki Chromatic harmonica model SCX - 64. As all of us know that SCX 64 of Suzuki, Super 64 & super 64 X of Hohner come in the key of C only. In the videos I have explained where to take the key note for C major & A minor with the same harmonica.

SHARPS, FLATS & FREQUENCY

In Music, so many times we come across the terms SHARP & FLAT. Some one says the note is F SHARP & some one says the scale is A FLAT etc. By practice we just accept & say C SHARP, E FLAT, F SHARP & A FLAT like that. Often during the rehearsals we hear that the guitarist adjusting the strings & listening to the pitch of the singer screams out the scale is B FLAT. Now let us understand what are these SHARPS & FLATS. By practice we identify a note as F# but why dont we say G FLAT for this when both are true because when the note F ascends it becomes F# or when the note G descends it becomes G FLAT. Finally F# & G FLAT are the same.
By the word SHARP we mean something ' pointed ' or ' piercing'. Imagine we are at the base of a steep mountain. Standing at the ground level we observe the tip of this cliff & we say its pointed or its sharp. It means we are at the base & our point of concentration is the highest level being our point of observation. It means by making a travel from base & proceding forward/ higher we acheive the highest point which we have confirmed as SHARP. Putting the same logic in music when we take a NOTE of a particular frequency & give an increment to its frequency we arrive at a particular frequency where the note gets SHARPENED, at that instant we say that the second note is the SHARP of the first one. The reverse order is also true. Thats,when we start decresing the frequency of the note we get the lower frequency where we say the Note is FLAT of the first one. Therefore SHARP & FLAT are inter related.
We conclude that the increase in frequency of a note to a particular value is the SHARP of that note & the decrease in frequency of a note to a praticular value is the FLAT of that note.
For example when note F steepens it becomes F# & when the same note F# widens that becomes note F.

Now coming to the word FREQUENCY & what does it mean in actual. The word frequency is dervied from the word 'Frequent' which means OCCURING OF AN ACTIVITY DURING A PARTICULAR TIME WITH AN INTERVAL. When the time interval , which we say GAP as a lay man , is more than the occurence , we say its less frequent & Vice versa. In music, frequency means the vibration of sound waves & the time interval is considered as one second. Therefore the frequency of a particular musical note is the vibration of its sound waves per second. Internationally the frequency of the note A is taken as the reference & all the rest of the notes have been designated with respect to this A note. The frequency of vibration of sound waves for this note A has the value 440 Cycles per second. According to the name of the scientist of its discovery the unit of frequency is also known as HERTZ & in short written as HZ.. Note A has the frequency of 440 HZ. This A belongs to the fifth octave & denoted as A4. About the OCTAVES it will be explained in the future posts. This note A has been taken as the reference because in olden days A was taken as the start with the notes of the scale as A,B,C,D,E,F,G & A of the next octave. You can observe in a key board all these notes are the white keys. Gradually due to the advent of the Major & minor scales this notes pattern of A scale became the A minor scale. This A was replaced by the note C as the threshold creating the C scale with the notes as C,D,E,F,G,A,B & C of the higher octave in the ascending order of the scale. This C scale has all the white notes on a key board making it the C Major scale with all the notes being the natural ones.
As regards the concept of OCTAVES, MAJOR , MINOR SCALES & CIRCLE OF FIFTH etc we will discuss in the future posts.

BAHARON PHOOL BARSAO - SARGAM

I am herewith giving the notations of the song in SARGAM. Please note that these are the notations when you play a C chromatic harmonica creating the scale of A minor. Please dont get confused that the note ' GA ' is not the komal ' ga ' of the base raag Shivranjani. With these notations note ' C ' becomes the ' ga ' of scale A minor. Therefore ' GA ' here, is the ' PA' of A scale.Please note that this ' PA ' position remains unchanged irrespective of the scale being a Major or a minor.
Some friends have requested for the hole numbers, since the notation pattern is still to be learnt by them. Our next posting of the same song identifying the hole numbers for practising this song.

BAHARON PHOOL BARSAO = GAGA MA DHA DHANISA... .SA..SASANISA

MERA MEHEBOOB AYA HAI = SASASASA NI- DHA-MAMADHANI-NI

MERA MEHEBOOB AYA HAI = NI - NIDHA DHANISA-SA-NISANI - DHA - DHA

HAWAON RAGNI GAO = GAGA MA DHA DHANISA... .SA..SASANISA

MERA MEHEBOOB AYA HAI =SASASASA NI- DHA-MAMADHANI-NI

MERA MEHEBOOB AYA HAI =NI - NIDHA DHANIre - re -NISANI-DHA - DHA
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O LAALEE PHOOL KI MEHENDI = GA'GA'MA'SA' - SA'- SA'GA'GA'MA'SA' - SA'

LAGAA IN GORE HATHONMEIN =SANISADHA - DHA MA SADHASADHASA-SA

UTAR AA EI GHATAA KAAJAL = GA'GA'MA'SA' - SA' - SA'GA'GA'MA'SA' - SA'

LAGAA IN PYARI AANKHONMEIN = SANISADHA - DHA MA SADHASADHASA - SA

SITARON MAANG BHAR JAO = GAGA MA DHA DHANISA - SA - SASANISA

MERA MEHEBOOB AYA HAI = SASASASA NI - DHA - MAMADHANI - NI

MERA MEHEBOOB AYA HAI = NI - NIDHADHANIre - re - NISANI - DHA - DHA

CROWDING OF NOTES

While writing the notes I have carefully adjusted the gaps & checked in the draft also. I found it to be in order, but after its published I was surprised to see them all getting crowded making very difficult to understand. I am again arranging in a phrased manner so that there wont be any confusion in understanding. I regret the inconvenience caused. As all of us have the conventional Chromatic harmonica in the scale of C you can play this song as per the notes. By doing so you will be playing this song in the scale of A minor in this C scale harmonica. Here you are taking the start ( Key note ) as E. To play this song in the scale of C minor in the same harmonica you have to take the start ( Key note ) as G which is 3 semitones ahead of E.

BAHARON PHOOL BARSAO = EEF#A ABC-C-CCBC

MERA MEHEBOOB AYA HAI = CCCC B-A-F# F#AB-B

MERA MEHEBOOB AYA HAI = B-BA ABC-C BCB-A-A

HAWAON RAGNI GAO = EEF#A ABC-C-CCBC

MERA MEHEBOOB AYA HAI =CCCC B-A-F# F#AB-B

MERA MEHEBOOB AYA HAI = B-BA ABC#-C# BCB-A-A

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O LAALEE PHOOL KI MEHENDI = E'E'F#'C'-C' E'E'F#'C'-C'

LAGAA IN GORE HATHONMEIN =CBCA-AF#CBCBA-A

UTAR AA EI GHATAA KAAJAL = E'-E'E'F#'C'-C' E'E'F#'C'-C'

LAGAA IN PYARI AANKHONMEIN = CBCA-AF#CBCBA-A

SITARON MAANG BHAR JAO = EEF#A ABC-C CCBC

MERA MEHEBOOB AYA HAI = CCCC B-A-F# F#AB-B

MERA MEHEBOOB AYA HAI = B-BA ABC#C# BCB-A-A

These are the basic notes. we can add flavour to it by vibrato or putting some accidental notes. please operate the slider gently either with your fore finger or the thumb. Please dont hit it with your palm since its very delicate.

We are open for any corrections and suggestions since we learn though our mistakes & errors.

BAHARON PHOOL BARSAO

I am herewith giving the notations of the song Baharon Phool Barsao. The song is from the movie SURAJ. The movie was released in 1966 with Rajender kumar & Vyjayanthimala in the lead. & the Hyderabad born Ajit as the villain with Sri Gajanan Jagirdar, Umashankar vyas, Lalitha pawar & Mumtaj in the supporting roles. Gajanan jagirdar was the principal for the Film & television Institute of India at Pune ( FTII ) for some time. In this movie singer Sharda ( Sharda Rajan ) made debut as the playback singer with her maiden song TITLI UDEE, which is very popular even till today. Maestros Shankar-Jaikishan had tuned & composed music for the songs written by Shailender Ji & Hasrat jaipuri Sahab. This song is basically in the raag Shivranjani. I am highly greatful to Mr Saitejas of Bengaluru for correcting me that this particular song is in the raag MISHRA SHIVRANJANI which is derived from the route SHIVRANJANI. Its due to the presence of the note C# when you play the A minor key on a C chromatic harmonica at a few places.

Please note that this post is not in link to my the previous post. The previous post is for the beginners who are keen to know the positions of the notes in harmonica.

Before commencing to play the song please note that the NOTES = C, C# , E , G , Ab are the BLOW NOTES & the NOTES = D , Eb , F , F# , A , Bb & B are the DRAW NOTES. For the FLATS & the SHARPS you have to use the slider when you are playing a C chromatic harmonica to derive these notes. Below I am giving the notations . Please play a C chromatic harmonica.

BAHA RON PHOOL BARSAO , MERAMEHE BOOB AYAA HAI

EE F#A ABC-C CCB-C CCCC BA-F# F#AB-B

MERA MEHEBOOB AYAA HAI

B-BA ABC-C BCB-A

HAWAON RAAGNI GAO , MERA MEHEBOOB AYAA HAI,

NOTES ARE SAME AS THE TOP NOTES

MERA MEHEBOOB AYAAHAI

B-BA ABC# -C# BCB-A

O LAALI PHOOL KIMEHENDI LAGA IN GORE HATHONMEIN

E'E'F'# C'-C' E'E'F'#C-C C'BC' BA AF#C' BC'BA-A ( E' IS THE 'E' OF NEXT OCTAVE )

UTAR AA EI GHATAA KAAJAL LAGAAIN PYAARI ANKHONMEIN

E'-E'E'F# C - C E'E' F'#-CC C'-BC'BA AF#-C' BC'BA-A

SITARON MAANG BHARJAO , MERA MEHEBOOB AYAA HAI

(THE SAME NOTES OF BAHARON PHOOL BARSAO CONTINUES HERE AFTER TILL THE END )

MERA MEHEBOOB AYAA HAI

BAHARON PHOOL BARSAO.................................

FOR BEGINNERS

There are many enthusiasts who like to play harmonica. We welcome them with a warm heart & ready to share our experience, observation & the problems we faced towards learning of this TINY but MELODIOUS musical instrument. As far as Chromatic harmonica is concerned the conventional one is the 12 hole in the key of C. These 12 holes covers 3 Octaves. By OCTAVE we mean eight notes viz C , D , E , F , G , A , B & the C of the next series. These three octaves are known as the Lower Octave , The Middle octave & The higher octave. The note in between the note C & note D can be achieved by the operation of the slider. This intermediate note is known as C#. In the octave of a particular scale there are 12 notes including the Flats & the Sharps. As for example for the scale of C the notes are as mentioned below.

C , C# , D , Eb , E , F , F# , G , Ab , A , Bb , B .

HOW TO GET THE NOTES OF AN OCTAVE ON A CHROMATIC HARMONICA

C = Blow at the holes 1 , 5 , 9 with slider out

C# = Blow at the above holes with slider in

D = Draw at the above holes with slider out

Eb = Draw at the above holes with slider in

E = Blow at the holes 2 , 6 , 10 with slider out

F = Draw at the above holes with slider out

F#= Draw at the above holes with slider in

G = Blow at the holes 3 , 7 , 11 with slider out

Ab =Blow at the above holes with slider in

A = Draw at the above holes with slider out

Bb = Draw at the above holes with slider in

B = Draw at the holes 4 , 8 , 12 with slider out

B# = Draw at the above holes with slider in ( This is C note only but sounds sweet at landing )

C = Blow at the above holes with slider out ( This is the C of the next octave )

C# = Blow at the above holes with slider in ( This is the C # of the next octave )

HAVE A GOOD PRACTICE . ALL THE BEST.

Our next post will be the notations for the song Baharon Phool Barsao .

NOTES , TONES & SCALES

Before proceeding into the notations & songs I would like to share a bit of my knowledge about the Scales, Notes & Tones from concept point of view which is highly essential for the inset of Concept.
TONE means a sound of a certain frequency. Sometimes the tone is pleasant to the ear & some times it is pungent to the ear. The pungent one we term as NOISE and the pleasant ones we chose to put them in order making a garland of NOTES which is known as SCALE. We identify each note by a name depending upon their frequencies. Putting these set of notes in ascending order of their frequencies & making a chain is the SCALE. As each NOTE has a name, similarly each SCALE has a name. Conventionally the scale starts with C as the reference having the notes ascending order staring with the note name C.
There are 12 NOTES viz C , C# , D, D# ( Eb ) , E , F , F# , G , G# ( Ab ) , A , A# ( Bb ) & B .
similarly 12 SCALES with the same names as the NOTES. In a particular scale there are seven notes in total.
Example Scale ' C ' = C , D , E , F , G , A , B & again C of the next octave.
The Major & Minor concept of the SCALE , FLAT & SHARP NOTES I will explain latter.

I will upload the song BAHARON PHOOL BARSAO with the original song then the play of the same song in the original scale on harmonica.

Finally for the understanding & grasp of the song I will give the notations of the song.

CONCEPT OF MUSIC

I thank all the members of The Harmonica Club Of Gujarat for giving me this golden opportunity of sharing my rudimentary knowledge in music to one & all. My special thanks to Mr Nachiketa Desai & Mr Tapan Bhat for having a lot of confidence in me towards the successful implementation of these efforts .

As all of us know MUSIC is one of the important streams of Fine arts, which soothes the heart & gives total relaxation to the body & mind. As far as Science is concerned Music is the combination of certain sound frequencies set up in a particular order, which is very soothing & pleasing to the ears.And as far as Arts is concerned Music is DIVINE which is something beyond explanation.

Let us take a travel towards the Science Of Music, try to understand the rudiments, practice it & finally let us feel that we are blessed by Mother Saraswati to be successful in our efforts.

Finally let us utilise our scientific knowledge in Music to glorify this FINE ART.