• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Breaking Barlines

Online Music Theory Lessons: Turn Sound Into Skill

  • Home
  • Teaching Samples
  • Music Theory Lessons
  • Blog
  • About Aron Bernstein
  • FAQ
  • Membership Account
    • Log In
    • Your Profile
    • Membership Billing
    • Membership Cancel

July 19, 2021 By Aron Bernstein 7 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 7/19/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

Misirlou and Hava Nagila use two different scales that are almost identical. In fact, only one note makes the difference between Misirlou’s scale and Hava Nagila’s. What are these two scales, and what makes them different? Hint: the Hava Nagila excerpt here does not start on DO (the tonic).

Listen: Misirlou
Listen: Hava Nagila

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, July 23rd to see the answer!

ANSWER for 7/19/21

Misirlou is an Eastern Mediterranean melody that uses the Double Augmented Major scale. It’s made from two identical tetrascales, each with an augmented 2nd flanked by half-steps. In solfege, it’s DO-RA-MI-FA-SO-LE-TI-DO:

LISTEN

Hava Nagila is a Jewish song based on a Hasidic melody. It uses the Phrygian Dominant scale, so called because it’s what you get if you build a scale on the fifth note (or dominant) of the harmonic minor scale; and because of the half-step between the first two notes, characteristic of the Phrygian mode. The only difference with Double Augmented Major is that Phrygian Dominant has only one augmented second. The seventh note makes that difference: it makes a whole step with the 6th note, whereas in Misirlou it makes another augmented 2nd. The solfege for Phrygian Dominant scale is nearly the same:DO-RA-MI-FA-SO-LE-TE-DO:

LISTEN

The Double Augmented Major scale is also called Hijaz-Kar in Arabic. The Phrygian Dominant mode, when used in Jewish prayers, is also called Ahava Rabbah or Freygish.

Want to Learn More?

Learn every scale in the book with my entire series of videos in the Scales Module! Sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys, and stay tuned for new lessons on non-Western scales. I created Breaking Barlines with one thing in mind: making music theory effective and FUN!

Spread the love

Filed Under: music theory challenge Tagged With: breakingbarlines, classicalmusic, folkmusic, havanagila, misirlou, music, musiceducation, musiclessons, musictheory, popmusic, scales

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Steve Cohen says

    July 19, 2021 at 6:08 pm

    Hava Nagila is in a Jewish mode known as Ahavah Rabbah, also called Fraigish.
    The scale used in Miserlou is almost identical except that the 7th degree is raised. It’s an Arabic scale. I don’t know the Arabic name, but theory nerds call it the double harmonic minor,

    Reply
    • Aron Bernstein says

      July 20, 2021 at 11:48 am

      Interesting. I actually wasn’t aware that Ahavah Rabbah was also the name of the scale, in addition to the name of the Hebrew prayer. And the Western name of this scale is…. 🙂 The work of theory nerds is never done!

      Reply
  2. Katrina says

    July 20, 2021 at 11:02 am

    Hicaz-kir is one of the names of the Misirlou scale. In that set of nomenclature the Hava Nagila scale would be hicaz, but since it’s a Jewish song it is more rightly known as Ahava raba/Freygish.

    Reply
    • Aron Bernstein says

      July 20, 2021 at 11:53 am

      I think you’re more knowledgeable in non-Western names than I am! But just to be a nerd, what are their Western names? 🙂

      Reply
  3. Katrina says

    July 20, 2021 at 12:16 pm

    Hehe…I only know the non-Western names. I play music from the Balkans. I don’t even know all of the Arabic/Turkish modes. LOL!

    Reply
    • Aron Bernstein says

      July 23, 2021 at 9:48 am

      No worries! Thank you for giving me something more poetic to call them. “Double Harmonic Major” gives me quite the headache after a while!

      Reply
  4. Doug says

    July 22, 2021 at 6:31 am

    Misirlou = Double Harmonic Major
    Hava Nagila = Phrygian Dominant
    The difference is the raised scale degree 7 in Misirlou.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Contact Breaking Barlines

  • Tell us about yourself. What is your experience level in music? What would you like to see in an online music theory course? Your input will become future video lessons.

Copyright © 2023 Breaking Barlines · WordPress Website by Waterlink Web

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy