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 | Ascending melodic minor | 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7 | 5 | Dorian b2 |
| Mode 2 | Dorian b2 or Phrygian #6 | 1 b2 b3 4 5 6 b7 | 5 | Ascending melodic minor |
| Mode 3 | Lydian augmented | 1 2 3 #4 #5 6 7 | 5 | Altered |
| Mode 4 | Acoustic | 1 2 3 #4 5 6 b7 | 5 | Half-diminished |
| Mode 5 | Aeolian dominant or Mixolydian b6 | 1 2 3 4 5 b6 b7 | 6 | itself |
| Mode 6 | Half-diminished | 1 2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7 | 5 | Acoustic |
| Mode 7 | Altered | 1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7 | 5 | Lydian augmented |
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 <2 5 4 4 4 2>. | Semitones apart | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Pairs | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
Mirror and symmetry
Reflected around its root, every mode of the melodic minor family lands on another mode of the same family, and Aeolian dominant lands on itself. No shift short of the octave maps the family onto itself: seven notes cannot divide twelve evenly.
One degree away
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 3rd, and it is Ascending melodic minor (melodic minor, mode 1). | Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. | It may be derived from the major scale with a minor third — Jazz minor scale, “introduction” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Dorian (diatonic, mode 2): raise the 7th, and it is Ascending melodic minor (melodic minor, mode 1). | Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. | It can also be derived from the diatonic Dorian mode with a major instead of a minor seventh in it. — Jazz minor scale, “introduction” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Ascending melodic minor (melodic minor, mode 1): lower the 2nd, and it is Neapolitan Major (Neapolitan major, mode 1). | Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. | The scales are distinguished from the harmonic and ascending melodic minor scales by the lowered supertonic or second scale degree. — Neapolitan scale, “introduction” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
The family itself is read from Jazz minor scale, “introduction” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24): It may be derived from the major scale with a minor third
.
One lowered third
The melodic minor family starts from the ascending melodic minor, 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7: the major scale with its third lowered, or Dorian with its seventh raised. Its rotations run from that scale through Dorian b2, Lydian augmented, the acoustic scale, the Aeolian dominant and the half-diminished to the altered scale, 1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7. Those are the names the source prints for each mode.
Next door to the church modes
Every mode of this family is one altered degree from a diatonic mode, and most are one from two of them. Lydian augmented is Lydian with its fifth raised; the altered scale is Locrian with its fourth lowered; the acoustic scale sits between Lydian and Mixolydian, one step from each. That closeness is why both families share more pairs than almost any other two here.
Its other neighbours
Lower the second degree of the ascending melodic minor and it becomes the Neapolitan major, and these two families meet as often as this one meets the diatonic. It touches the harmonic minor and harmonic major families as well, but never itself: no single altered degree turns one of its modes into another of its modes.
Mirror
Reflected around its root, a mode of this family stays in it. The Aeolian dominant, 1 2 3 4 5 b6 b7, is its own reflection, and the ascending melodic minor and Dorian b2 turn into each other. The Aeolian dominant is also the family’s best-connected mode, with six neighbours where each of the others has five.