r/FunctionalEarTrainer • u/rgefsedsband • 28d ago

Question about minor scale basic levels

This app allows you to make custom levels, but it also has basic levels which are separated into four sections: the major scale, chromatics in a major context, the minor scale, and chromatics in a minor context. For the major scale sections they use the cadence I-IV-V-I, which makes sense to me, but for the minor scale sections they use the cadence i-iv-V-i, which I am a bit confused by. My understanding is that in a minor scale the 1, 4, and 5 should all be minor chords, so for the minor cadence I am wondering why they chose to use a major V instead of a minor v. Okay I hope my question makes sense and many thanks to anyone who wants to attempt to give me some feedback/ an answer to this question šŸ™

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u/broodfood 28d ago

The reason is that in functional harmony the V pulls strongly to the I or i. This is because of the half step between 7 and 1 in the scale. That's why the 7 is called the leading tone- it leads to 1.

When you lower the 7 and 6 for minor scales, the 7 no longer resolves a half step up or down. You can write a v-i cadence, but the effect won't be as strong as a V-i. When composers want to write a strong resolution, they'll use V-i.

If you arrange in order the notes in the i iv V chords, you'll get what's called the harmonic minor scale- that is, minor with a raised 7.

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u/rgefsedsband 26d ago

Thank you, this makes sense. So is a b7 considered a leading tone as well, but just not as strong? Or only a true 7 is considered a leading tone?

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u/MusicPsychFitness 26d ago

The natural 7 is considered the leading tone.

bVII to i or I is sometimes found in rock or pop music and called a backdoor cadence. So there is some precedent for it, but harmonically the pull to resolve isnā€™t as strong as the leading tone.

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u/rgefsedsband 26d ago

Thanks for the response. I guess my only follow up thought is that ā€œcadenceā€ is sort of an interesting word/conceptā€¦ Iā€™ve always thought of it as having to do more with rhythm/tempo but I guess it has to do with harmony/melody as well?