# Minor but Not Quite There: C Half-Whole Octatonic



## caters (Aug 2, 2018)

I wrote a short piece for solo piano using the C Half-Whole Octatonic scale. I used the same key signature that I would use for C minor and as you can probably tell from the title, I emphasize the C minor tonality while also making it very obvious that it isn't your normal C minor by outlining diminished sevenths and using them in place of your regular dominant in the cadences. For the ending, I decided to go dramatic and have the C Half-Whole Octatonic go down 4 octaves during a creschendo and then have Cdim7 go straight to C minor with no chord in between. I found 2 cadences so far that I could make using the Half-Whole Octatonic scale, an Authentic Cadence and a Deceptive Cadence. And guess what? Each one of those is the hand inversion of the other. In the Authentic Cadence, the melody goes Db, Bb, C, and the bass provides the chords. In the Deceptive Cadence, it is flipped, the right hand provides the chords and the left hand does the melodic motion. Same chords, same inversions, but much weaker than the Authentic Cadence.

View attachment Minor but Not Quite There.mp3

View attachment Minor but Not Quite There.pdf


What do you think of my short piece in C Half-Whole Octatonic?


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I thought it was more interesting than your work in traditional harmony. I don't like the octave harmonizations in the beginning of a lot of bars.


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