The Harmonic Major Family

The harmonic major and its rotations, Dorian b5 to Locrian bb7: the major scale with a lowered sixth, holding the same interval content as the harmonic minor family, turned upside down.

The seven modes, by rotation

Each mode starts the family on the next degree up. Names are the source’s; degrees, neighbour counts and mirrors are worked out here.
Mode Name, as printed Degrees One degree away Reflected
Mode 1 Harmonic major 1 2 3 4 5 b6 7 4 Phrygian Dominant
Mode 2 Dorian b5 or Locrian #2 #6 1 2 b3 4 b5 6 b7 3 Ukrainian Dorian
Mode 3 Phrygian b4 or Altered Dominant #5 1 b2 b3 b4 5 b6 b7 3 Ionian #5
Mode 4 Lydian b3, Melodic Minor #4 or Lydian Diminished 1 2 b3 #4 5 6 7 4 Locrian #6
Mode 5 Mixolydian b2 or Phrygian Dominant natural 6 1 b2 3 4 5 6 b7 4 Harmonic minor
Mode 6 Lydian Augmented #2 1 #2 3 #4 #5 6 7 3 Altered Diminished
Mode 7 Locrian bb7 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 bb7 3 Lydian #2

Names as printed in Mode (music), “Other heptatonic scales” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24).

Interval content

How many of the twenty-one pairs of notes in the family lie each distance apart, the shorter way round: the interval vector <3 3 5 4 4 2>.
Semitones apart 1 2 3 4 5 6
Pairs 3 3 5 4 4 2

Mirror and symmetry

Reflected around its root, every mode of the harmonic major family lands on a mode of the harmonic minor family, so the two are mirror images of each other. No shift short of the octave maps the family onto itself: seven notes cannot divide twelve evenly.

One degree away

Every altered degree that carries a mode of this family onto a mode the atlas declares: twenty-four in all, reaching diatonic, melodic minor, harmonic minor and double harmonic.
From Alter Lands on Family
Harmonic major lower the 2nd (2 to b2) Double harmonic Double harmonic
Harmonic major lower the 3rd (3 to b3) Harmonic minor Harmonic minor
Harmonic major raise the 6th (b6 to 6) Ionian Diatonic
Harmonic major lower the 7th (7 to b7) Aeolian dominant Melodic minor
Dorian b5 lower the 2nd (2 to b2) Locrian #6 Harmonic minor
Dorian b5 raise the 5th (b5 to 5) Dorian Diatonic
Dorian b5 lower the 6th (6 to b6) Half-diminished Melodic minor
Phrygian b4 raise the 4th (b4 to 4) Phrygian Diatonic
Phrygian b4 lower the 5th (5 to b5) Altered Melodic minor
Phrygian b4 lower the 7th (b7 to bb7) Phrygian bb7 b4 Double harmonic
Lydian b3 raise the 3rd (b3 to 3) Lydian Diatonic
Lydian b3 lower the 4th (#4 to 4) Ascending melodic minor Melodic minor
Lydian b3 lower the 6th (6 to b6) Hungarian minor Double harmonic
Lydian b3 lower the 7th (7 to b7) Ukrainian Dorian Harmonic minor
Mixolydian b2 raise the 2nd (b2 to 2) Mixolydian Diatonic
Mixolydian b2 lower the 3rd (3 to b3) Dorian b2 Melodic minor
Mixolydian b2 lower the 5th (5 to b5) Locrian natural 6 natural 3 Double harmonic
Mixolydian b2 lower the 6th (6 to b6) Phrygian Dominant Harmonic minor
Lydian Augmented #2 lower the 2nd (#2 to 2) Lydian augmented Melodic minor
Lydian Augmented #2 lower the 4th (#4 to 4) Ionian #5 #2 Double harmonic
Lydian Augmented #2 lower the 5th (#5 to 5) Lydian #2 Harmonic minor
Locrian bb7 lower the 3rd (b3 to bb3) Locrian bb3 bb7 Double harmonic
Locrian bb7 lower the 4th (4 to b4) Altered Diminished Harmonic minor
Locrian bb7 raise the 7th (bb7 to b7) Locrian Diatonic

What the sources say about it

Every relation a source states that involves this family, tested against the atlas.
The claim In the atlas The source’s words
Ionian (diatonic, mode 1): lower the 6th, and it is Harmonic major (harmonic major, mode 1). Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. The scale is simply a major scale with a lowered sixth. — Harmonic major scale, “Construction” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24)
Harmonic minor (harmonic minor, mode 1): raise the 3rd, and it is Harmonic major (harmonic major, mode 1). Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. It is also the harmonic minor scale with a raised third. — Harmonic major scale, “Construction” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24)
Harmonic major (harmonic major, mode 1): lower the 2nd, and it is Double harmonic (double harmonic, mode 1). Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. lowering the second note of the harmonic major scale by a semitone. — Double harmonic scale, “Details” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24)

The family itself is read from Harmonic major scale, “Construction” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24): The scale is simply a major scale with a lowered sixth..

One lowered sixth

The harmonic major family starts from the harmonic major, 1 2 3 4 5 b6 7: the major scale with its sixth lowered, which the same source also describes as the harmonic minor with its third raised. Its rotations are Dorian b5, Phrygian b4, Lydian b3, Mixolydian b2, Lydian augmented #2 and Locrian bb7, 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 bb7.

Names that say where they sit

Five of its seven names point straight at a diatonic neighbour. Dorian b5, Phrygian b4, Lydian b3, Mixolydian b2 and Locrian bb7 are each a church mode with one degree lowered, and the neighbour table confirms every one as a single altered degree. Its modes also reach the melodic minor, harmonic minor and double harmonic families; lowering the harmonic major’s second gives the double harmonic.

One family fewer than its mirror

Each harmonic major mode has three or four neighbours, a few fewer than the harmonic minor modes, because this family touches one family fewer. The Neapolitan minor, which the harmonic minor reaches by lowering its second degree, is not one altered degree from any harmonic major mode: a mirror keeps a family’s interval content, but not the families it happens to sit next to.

Mirror of the harmonic minor

Reflected around its root, every harmonic major mode lands in the harmonic minor family, and every harmonic minor mode lands here, so these two families are mirror images of each other. Distances between notes survive a reflection unchanged, which is why both families have exactly the same interval content although no mode of one is a mode of the other.