I realize, that the rhythmic pattern for tone and semitone is T T S T T T S in the MAJOR SCALE.

What about the MINOR SCALE???

Well to confuse you even more there are 4 types of minor scale and each one has a separate pattern of T's & S's! (Harmonic, Melodic, Jazz Melodic, Natural)
However, they all have the opening in common i.e they all begin TSTT

I could never remember the pattern for the minors so I just used to work them out. But if you want to know the patterns, it's these...


Harmonic Minor:

The 3rd is lowered by a semitone.
The 7th is raised by a semitone.
It's the same both ascending and descending.

So the pattern is:
T S T T S T+S S

Melodic Minor:

Ascending:

The 3rd is lowered by a semitone.
Both the 6th and 7th are raised by a semitone.

So the pattern is:
T S T T T T S

Descending:

The 6th and 7th revert to the unraised note.
The 3rd remains lowered.

So the pattern is:
T S T T S T T

Don't forget to count from the bottom up, even though the scale is descending - that goes for both harmonic and melodic.

I hope all this is right but I've got a bit bog-eyed with it. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong!

Incidentally, if you're doing Grade 3, you don't need to know jazz scales or naturals for the exam

While we're dealing with definitions, T T S T T T S has nothing at all to do with rhythm! It is a pattern, but not a rhythmic pattern.

The rhythm is derived from the length of the notes (and/or rests) in a piece or segment of a piece, so a rhythmic pattern could be something like: quaver-quaver-crotchet - or zillions of other examples - and any scale can be played with any rhythm.

Rhythm is one of the 'elements' of music, along with Melody, Harmony, Dynamics, Articulation, Structure, Instrumentation and so on. Other than perhaps Melody and Harmony, these are all fairly interchangable in as much as one does not inextricably or necessarily affect another.

Sorry, czerny, didn't think by using the wording "rhythmic" in musical terms. Didn't even occur to me until now that there might be a confusion. I meant with rhythmic the speaking pattern.


Thanks @skylark for the effort to write that down. That really helps!

Amongst others.

I think (I await correction) that the only thing minor scales necessarily have in common is that the 3rd is a minor 3rd.

So, for example, phrygian and locrian minor scales have a minor 2nd and start STTT and STTS respectively.