Ukrainian Dorian scale

In music, the Romanian Minor scale or Ukrainian Dorian scale or altered Dorian scale is a musical scale or mode, "similar to the dorian mode, but with a tritone and variable sixth and seventh degrees". It is related to both the Freygish and Misheberak scales and is used in Jewish music, "predominant in klezmer bulgarish and doina (doyne)." "When the Ukrainian Dorian scale functions in the synagogue, it is a mode known as the Mi sheberach (May He Who Blessed) or Av horachamim (Compassionate Father). Arab and Greek scholars give other names to the scale: Hijaz and Aulos, respectively."

"The pitches of the Mi Shebeyrekh [cantorial] mode correspond roughly to a Dorian mode with a raised fourth (for example, B, C♯, D, E♯, F♯, G♯, A); alternately, it could be described as a variant of the Lydian mode, deriving instead from the harmonic minor scale, rather than from the major scale. Beregovski calls this pitch collection 'Ukrainian Dorian'."

The Ukrainian Dorian scale is used particularly extensively within Julian Cochran's music including the Romanian Dances and Mazurkas. It has also been used by George Gershwin. Another example is the Bert Kaempfert tune "Sweet Maria".

Also called the Ukrainian minor scale, it is a combined typed of musical scale. It figures prominently in Eastern European music, particularly Klezmer music, and melodies based on this scale have an exotic, romantic flavor for listeners accustomed to more typical Western scales.

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