Closed 3 Part 4th Modulating Cycles in Harmonic Minor – Etude 2.
This etude in harmonic minor tells more of a story than the spread triads in Etude 1.
You can tell how the music speeds up, slows down and even stops. These, of course, are some of the elements that a good story-teller uses.
Also Etude 1 stayed in a single key whereas Etude 2 modulates through several cycles which is more pleasing to the ear.
Modulating Cycles in Harmonic Minor
All of Etude 2 uses closed quartal triads and these triads are found on the top 4 strings. It’s only on the last chord, a C minor/major 7th chord, that the A string is used (for the low C note).
The first little ascending/descending section is in the key of C harmonic minor just like the examples in the almanacs.
This particular line is derived from the top line in the closed harmonic 3 part 4th’s section on page 45.
The descending line ends on an A note which signifies a new key, we are now in G harmonic minor. We follow a cycle of 4ths which includes a beautiful dissonant chord which, using a scalar stepwise line, leads us into the key of D harmonic minor.
Here we have a little three note motive which is repeated before a little chromatic flurry which raises the intensity as we head into the key of A harmonic minor.
You may have spotted that the cycles themselves moved up in 5ths.
After the pause which follows the chromatic section we find ourselves back in the key of C harmonic minor with a nice little 2 bar motive in 4/4 time.
You have probably noticed in Etude 1 as well as this Etude that there are a lot of strange time signatures so it’s nice to find some 4/4 normality.
From C harmonic minor we descend a minor third into Ab harmonic minor before we come to our final motive a half step lower in G. This motive alternates between the major and minor 6th, so sweet.
As mentioned before the final chord is a C minor / major 7th chords.
Etude 2 Video
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