Melodic Minor Modes

Question

Do modes exist in the harmonic / melodic minor scales?

This question needs to be brought back to life.

The answer to the question above is wrong... the chart is right, but the answer is wrong... here is what I got for the melodic minor modes

1. Melodic Minor
2. Dorian b9
3. Lydian Augmented
4. Lydian Dominant
5. Mixolydian b6
6. Aeolian Diminished or Half-Diminished
7. Altered Dominant or Superlocrian

Also, if anyone has an easier naming convention, I'd gladly adopt it. I'm not a huge fan of calling a mode by the alterations from another mode... e.g. Dorian b9... I find a descriptive term like Lydian Dominant to be much easier to picture. So if you have better names for Dorian b9 and Mixolydian b6 that would be great!

Answer 1

Adding to your names -

2. Phrygian nat.2 / Javanese / Dorian b2 (rather than b9) / Phrygidorian.

3. Lydian #5 (aka aug.)

4. Lydian b7 / Acoustic scale / Mixolydian #4 / Overtone / Lydomyxian.

5. Melodic major / Hindu / Mixaeolian.

6. Locrian nat.2 / Aeolocrian.

7. -as you already say.

Few of which trip off the tongue! I suppose the italicised names are fairly apposite, and where did 'acoustic' came from?? So, unless someone wants to re-christen them with completely new names, we're basically stuck trying to describe them as bastardisations of existing mode names.