The Melodic b5: The Sound Behind Modern Classical Music
- rbedwell3
- Jul 16
- 3 min read
Whilst listening to the radio recently, I came across a new piece that caught my ear. It is by the Welsh composer Grace Williams and it is called The Silent Pool.
Now, although it is a piece for solo piano, it immediately took me into the sonic world of Leo Brouwer and Toru Takemitsu, who are both predominantly guitar composers, and so I felt that this warranted further investigation.
After researching the composer and the available scores, I managed to get myself a copy and have since analysed it, using the modal method that I have explained in my book, available here: https://www.bedwellmusic.co.uk/general-7
Now, those of you that are up on all things modal, and have read my writings on 20th century composers will know that one of the defining scales of the guitar music of the last century is the Melodic b5 scale (1 2 b3 4 b5 6 7). It is used repeatedly by Takemitsu, Walton, Brouwer amongst others and often for long periods of music.
Try listening to The Warrior’s Harp from The Black Decameron by Leo Brouwer:
Or All In Twilight (I) by Takemitsu:
The soundscape that is dominant in both of these composer’s works revolves around the Melodic b5 scale.
Now have a listen to The Silent Pool by Grace Williams, here is the link to a good recording on youtube:
Although nowhere near in its complexity as the Takemitsu or Brouwer pieces, the Silent Pool spends a considerable amount of time in the land of the Melodic b5. 26 out of a total of 46 bars to be precise.
Just as in the other composers’ music mentioned above, The Silent Pool has turbulent sections where a multitude of notes that are further away from the initial scale and key are introduced in rapid succession, creating an almost atonal feel. This is quite easy to document and understand from a more mature theoretical level though, instead of just reducing the music down to avoiding notes already played, and the altered notes create a sequence of scales and their modes that are interesting in themselves.
Analysis of the music
The piece begins with ambiguity, the scale in use is only sketched out with the 6th omitted, leaving the music in either E Harmonic minor b5 (1 2 b3 4 b5 b6 7)or E Melodic b5 (1 2 b3 4 b5 6 7). What follows up to bar 10, is a switch between the two scales, just by altering the 6th, C to C# and back. A couple of bars are spent in E Ionian b5 (1 2 3 4 b5 6 7) which introduces the Major 3rd into the piece.
Page 2 begins with a clever move using a double (+1) alteration to the Bb of the E Melodic b5 scale:
E Melodic b5 = E F# G A Bb C# D#
Focusing on the mode on which the note to be altered begins, we get:
Bb Lydian+ #23 = Bb C# D# E F# G A
and sharpening the root (+1) we get:
Bb Lydian+ #23 (+1) = B Mixolydian b6 (mode V of E Melodic).
The same degree is sharpened again, remember these alterations are occurring simultaneously, and the mode on B has its root raised once more:
B Mixolydian b6 (+1) = B# Altbb67 (1 b2 b3 b4 b5 bb6 bb7)
B# Altbb67 is mode VII of C# Harmonic minor b5 (C# D# E F# G A B#) and now you can see how Grace Williams is continuing to keep the music in either of the scales Harmonic minor b5 or Melodic b5. Of course, the focus now on the root of C# is related to the initial scales which had their root on E, because the C# is the relative minor of E.
That covers the first two pages of the music, and the third is where the multiple rapid changes occur, which we will leave for another time. The fourth and final page returns with the ritando into the a tempo section with E Melodic b5 all the way to its conclusion.
So, there you have it. The melodic b5 scale and its close neighbours can now be seen to be one of the foundations in creating the soundscape for the classical music of the latter part of the 20th century at least for the composers William Walton, Toru Takemitsu, Leo Brouwer and Grace Williams. I’m sure that the list of pieces and composers will grow too. Thanks for reading.
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