The camera said it 07:58 on a Saturday morning, and it was going to be a really hot one. London is almost deserted on Saturday morning up to about 10:30. And here our intrepid tourists are, and probably getting a better view of the town without all the crowds. Or maybe they were coming out from an all-nighter (do those still happen?).
There is one major scale, also known as the Ionian mode. Tone-Tone-Semitone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Semitone.
There is a natural minor scale, which is where you move three times to the left on the Circle of Fifths and play the resulting major scale, but starting on the original tonic. Also known as the Aolian mode. Tone-Semitone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Semitone-Tone.
Then there is the harmonic minor scale: Tone-Semitone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Three SemiTones-Semitone.
It gets worse. The melodic minor scale: Tone-Semitone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Semitone (upwards) and play the notes of the natural minor scale on the way down. Hint: don't do trills or clever up-and-down phrases at the upper end of the scale.
Kids have to learn this stuff at Grades Three and Four for piano (but not in all keys).
It's in the book of clarinet scales I once thought would be a good idea to use for the guitar. (The two have a very similar range.)
There's never been a time when Gerald Plumbtones on Radio Three has said "and Mahler wrote this in E harmonic minor".
When something is written in (say) E-minor, it's the natural minor they use.
The only song I know in a harmonic minor is the Great Society version of White Rabbit. Even Derby Slick's solo is in the harmonic minor.
One of the ways of learning something is to extemporise around it. I may have grabbed A harmonic minor, noodled away, and thought on occasion "that sounds a bit Keith Jarrett-y". I suspect KJ used it from time to time.
Lower grade pianists also have to learn the whole-tone scales (both of them) and the chromatic scale (only one of them). No pentatonics, because this is Music Theory and they didn't do pentatonics in the Classical era. Bear in mind there are guitarists who barely do anything else.
So other than for practice, have you ever knowingly used the melodic or harmonic minor scales?
There's a scene in a wonderful movie called Dinner Rush...
(Not this scene, but it gives you an idea how good a film this is)
...where a pompous celebrity art critic says to Summer Phoenix's aspiring painter / waitress...
You're an artist if you say you are. You're a successful artist if....
...and then he's interrupted by his entourage.
I've often wondered how to finish that line.
It's subtle, because there's "being an artist" and being a writer, painter, sculptor, interior designer, architect, and all those other activities that fall under "the arts".
You're a writer if you sit down and write pretty much every day. You're a successful writer if you finish some of the stories or projects you start, (because you will waste time on bad ideas)
But then there's "being a writer" as a profession, as participation in a social / cultural scene.
You're an author if you've been published and paid for it. Once. That's what the Society of Authors says. You're a successful author if you keep being published. (Because almost nobody makes a living from writing.)
There are successful authors who are by no means artists. There are artists who write stories, who write little and don't spend much time schmoozing.
So what makes someone a successful artist?
It's not about being a successful practitioner, and it's not about being recognised by the in-crowd of agents, critics, editors, gallerists, academics, journalists, and other bureaucratic nabobs.
What I notice about people I call `artists' is that a) they can work and express themselves in multiple media; b) they are quick to experiment with new technology that may help them produce something; c) they have their own voice / tone / style. You can identify their work more or less immediately.
You're a famous artist if "everyone" knows your name.
You're a rich artist if you have lots of money.
You're a successful artist if you develop your own voice and use that voice to produce work in whatever media you can use.
And most probably you will be poor or working a day job. Those are the stats.
