In music Music is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike), "(art) of the Muses.", a scale is a group of musical notes Notes are the "atoms" of much Western music: discretizations of musical phenomena that facilitate performance, comprehension, and analysis collected in ascending and descending order, that provides material for or is used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical work including melody A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a sequence of pitches and durations, while, more figuratively, the term has occasionally been extended to include successions of other musical elements such as tone color and/or harmony In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic line, or the "horizontal" aspect.[1] Scales are ordered in pitch Pitch represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. It is one of the four major auditory attributes of sounds along with loudness, timbre and sound source location. When the actual fundamental frequency can be precisely determined through physical measurement, it may differ from the perceived pitch because of overtones, also known as or pitch class In music, a pitch class is a set of all pitches that are a whole number of octaves apart, e.g., the pitch class C consists of the Cs in all octaves. "The pitch class C stands for all possible Cs, in whatever octave position." Thus, using scientific pitch notation, the pitch class "C" is the infinite set, with their ordering providing a measure of musical distance.

The distance between two successive notes in a scale is called a scale step.

Contents

Background

Scales are typically listed from low to high. Most scales are octave In music, an octave ( Play ) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. Using notes, this would be the same note up or down 12 semi-tones on the chromatic scale. For example, an A4 note would be one octave lower than an A5 note, and one octave higher than an A3 note. The octave relationship is a-repeating, meaning their pattern of notes is the same in every octave. An octave-repeating scale can be represented as a circular arrangement of pitch classes In music, a pitch class is a set of all pitches that are a whole number of octaves apart, e.g., the pitch class C consists of the Cs in all octaves. "The pitch class C stands for all possible Cs, in whatever octave position." Thus, using scientific pitch notation, the pitch class "C" is the infinite set, ordered by increasing (or decreasing) pitch class. For instance, the increasing C major scale is, C-D-E-F-G-A-B-[C], with the bracket indicating that the last note is an octave higher than the first note. Or C-B-A-G-F-E-D-[C], with the bracket indicating an octave lower than the first note in the scale.

This single scale can be manifested at many different pitch Pitch represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. It is one of the four major auditory attributes of sounds along with loudness, timbre and sound source location. When the actual fundamental frequency can be precisely determined through physical measurement, it may differ from the perceived pitch because of overtones, also known as levels. For example a C major scale can be started at C4 (middle C; see scientific pitch notation Scientific pitch notation is one of several methods that name the notes of the standard Western chromatic scale by combining a letter-name, accidentals, and a number identifying the pitch's octave. The definition of scientific pitch notation in this article is that proposed to the Acoustical Society of America in 1939, where C0 is in the region of) and ascending an octave to C5; or it could be started at C6, ascending an octave to C7.

Scales may be described according to the intervals In music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitches of two notes they contain:

or by the number of different pitch classes they contain:

Scales can be abstracted from performance A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which one group of people behave in a particular way for another group of people (the audience). Sometimes the dividing line between performer and the audience may become blurred, as in the example of "participatory theatre" where audience members might get involved in or composition A piece of music exists in the form of a written composition in musical notation or as a single acoustic event . If composed before being performed, music can be performed from memory, through written musical notation, or through a combination of both. Compositions comprise musical elements, which vary widely from person to person and between. They are also often used precompositionally In music, precompositional decisions are those decisions which a composer decides upon before or while beginning to create a composition. These limits may be given to the composer, such as the length or style needed, or entirely decided by the composer to guide or limit a composition. Explicit instruction in scales has been part of compositional training for many centuries. One or more scales may be used in a composition, such as in Claude Debussy Achille-Claude Debussy (August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918) was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions. Debussy is not only among the most important of all French composers,'s L'Isle Joyeuse. Below, the first scale is a whole tone scale, while the second and third scales are diatonic scales. All three are used in the opening pages of Debussy's piece.

Scales in Western music

See also: Musical mode In addition, from the end of the eighteenth century, the term began to be used in ethnomusicological contexts to describe pitch structures in non-European musical cultures, sometimes with doubtful compatibility

Scales in traditional Western music Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common practice period generally consist of seven notes and repeat at the octave. Notes in the commonly used scales (see just below) are separated by whole and half step This is a list of musical terms that are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian , in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special musical meanings of these phrases differ from the original or current Italian meanings. Most of intervals In music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitches of two notes of tones and semitones. The harmonic minor scale includes a three-semitone step; the pentatonic includes two of these.

Western music in the Medieval and Renaissance periods (1100–1600) tends to use the white-note diatonic scale In music theory, the major scale or Ionian scale is one of the diatonic scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher. In solfege these notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti/Si, ", the "Do" in the parenthesis at the end being the octave of the C-D-E-F-G-A-B. Accidentals are rare, and somewhat unsystematically used, often to avoid the tritone The tritone ( Play , tri- "three" and tone) is a musical interval that spans three whole tones. The tritone, sometimes known as the "Diabolus in Musica", refers to either the augmented fourth or the diminished fifth, which in 12-tone equal temperament are enharmonic equivalents. It is often used as the main interval of.

Music of the common practice periods (1600–1900) uses three types of scale:

These scales are used in all of their transpositions. The music of this period introduces modulation, which involves systematic changes from one scale to another. Modulation occurs in relatively conventionalized ways. For example, major-mode pieces typically begin in a "tonic" diatonic scale and modulate to the "dominant" scale a fifth above.

In the nineteenth and twentieth century, additional types of scales were explored:

A large — indeed, virtually endless — variety of other scales exists:

Naming the notes of a scale

In many musical circumstances, a specific note of the scale will be chosen as the "tonic" – the central and most stable note of the scale. Relative to a choice of tonic, the notes of a scale are often labeled with numbers recording how many scale steps above the tonic they are. For example, the notes of the C diatonic scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, B) can be labeled {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}, reflecting the choice of C as tonic. The term "scale degree" refers to these numerical labels. In the C diatonic scale, with C chosen as tonic, C is the first scale degree, D is the second scale degree, and so on.

Note that such labeling requires the choice of a "first" note; hence scale-degree labels are not intrinsic to the scale itself, but rather to its modes. For example, if we choose A as tonic, then we can label the notes of the C diatonic scale using A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, D = 4, and so on.

The scale degrees of a heptatonic (7-note) scale can also be named using the terms tonic The tonic is the first note of a musical scale in the tonal method of musical composition. The triad formed on the tonic note, the tonic chord, is thus the most significant chord. More generally, the tonic is the pitch upon which all other pitches of a piece are hierarchically referenced. The tonic is often confused with the root, which is the, supertonic In music or music theory, the supertonic is the second degree or note of a diatonic scale, one step above the tonic. In music theory, the supertonic chord is symbolized by the Roman numeral ii in a major scale, indicating that the chord is a minor chord , or iio in a natural minor scale, indicating that the chord is a diminished chord (for example,, mediant, subdominant In music, the subdominant is the technical name for the fourth tonal degree of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance "below" the tonic as the dominant is above the tonic - in other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdominant. It is also the note immediately "below" the dominant. In the C, dominant The dominant is a psycho-acoustic phenomenon. It is created in the ear, conforms to verifiable mathematical relationships, yet only really exists in the musical imagination of the listener. That said however, all humans, and evidently, some animals, experience the sensation of Tonality, submediant In music, the submediant is the sixth scale degree of the diatonic scale, the 'lower mediant' halfway between the tonic and the subdominant or 'lower dominant'. It is also the third factor of the subdominant triad, subtonic In music, the subtonic is the lowered or minor seventh degree of the scale, a whole step below the tonic, as opposed to the leading tone. For example, in the A minor scale , the subtonic is the note G (in C major this would be B♭); and the subtonic chord uses the notes G, B, and D (in C: B♭-D-F). In music theory, the subtonic chord is. If the subtonic is a semitone away from the tonic, then it is usually called the leading-tone In music theory, a leading-note is a note or pitch which resolves or "leads" to a note one semitone higher or lower, being a lower and upper leading-tone, respectively (or leading-note); otherwise the leading-tone refers to the raised subtonic. Also commonly used is the (movable do) solfège In music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable (or "sol-fa syllable"). The seven syllables commonly used for this practice in English-speaking countries are: do (or doh in tonic sol-fa), re, mi, fa, sol ( naming convention in which each scale degree is given a syllable. In the major scale, the solfege syllables are: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So (or Sol), La, Ti (or Si), Do (or Ut).

In naming the notes of a scale, it is customary that each scale degree be assigned its own letter name: for example, the A diatonic scale is written A - B - C♯ - D - E - F♯ - G♯ rather than A - B - D♭ - D - F♭ - E - G♯. However, it is impossible to do this with scales containing more than seven notes.

Scales may also be identified by using a binary system of twelve zeros or ones to represent each of the twelve notes of 12 note equal temperament, assuming the tonic to be in the leftmost position. For example 101011010101 would represent C-D-E-F-G-A-B, which can be shown as the decimal number 2773. This system includes scales from 100000000000 (2048) to 111111111111 (4095), providing a total of 4095 possible unique scales containing from 1 to 12 notes.[citation needed]

Scales may also be shown as semitones A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant (or fret positions) as e.g. 0 2 4 5 7 9 11 for C-D-E-F-G-A-B.

All these naming systems, except for heptatonic/diatonic interval naming, are restricted to scales for a 12 note octave division, not distinguishing sharps and flats.

Scalar transposition

Composers often transform musical patterns by moving every note in the pattern by a constant number of scale steps: thus, in the C major C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps scale, the pattern C-D-E might be shifted up, or transposed In music transposition refers to the process of moving a collection of notes up or down in pitch by a constant interval. For example, one might transpose an entire piece of music into another key. Similarly, one might transpose a tone row or an unordered collection of pitches such as a chord so that it begins on another pitch. See also Transposing, a single scale step to become D-E-F. This process is called "scalar transposition" and can often be found in musical sequences. Since the steps of a scale can have various sizes, this process introduces subtle melodic and harmonic variation into the music. This variation is what gives scalar music much of its complexity.

Jazz and blues

See also: Jazz scales

Through the introduction of blue notes In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the diatonic pitches with emotive blue-notes. Blue notes are, jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th century American popular music. Its West African pedigree and blues Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created primarily within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The blues form ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and employ scale intervals smaller than a semitone. The blue note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the diatonic pitches with emotive blue-notes. Blue notes are is an interval In music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitches of two notes that is technically neither major nor minor In music, the adjectives major and minor can describe a scale, key, chord, or interval but "in the middle", giving it a characteristic flavour. For instance, in the key of E, the blue note would be either a note between G and G♯ or a note moving between both. In blues a pentatonic scale is often used. In jazz many different modes and scales are used, often within the same piece of music. Chromatic scales are common, especially in modern jazz.

Non-Western scales

In Western music, scale notes are often separated by equally tempered tones or semitones, creating twelve pitches per octave. Many other musical traditions employ scales that include other intervals or a different number of pitches. The origin within these scales lies within the derivation of the harmonic series. Musical intervals are complementary values of the harmonic overtones series[2]. Many musical scales in the world are based on this system, except most of the musical scales from Indonesia and the Indochina Peninsulae, based on inharmonic resonance of the dominant metalophone and xylophone instruments. A common scale in Eastern music is the pentatonic scale, consisting of five tones. In the Middle Eastern Hejaz scale, there are some intervals of three semitones. Gamelan music uses a small variety of scales including Pélog and Sléndro, none including equally tempered nor harmonic intervals. Indian classical music uses a moveable seven-note scale. Rāgas in often employ intervals smaller than a semitone [3]. Arabic music maqamat may use quarter tone intervals.[4] In both rāgas and maqamat, the distance between a note and an inflection (e.g., śruti) of that same note may be less than a semitone.

Microtonal scales

The term microtonal music usually refers to music with roots in traditional Western music that employs non-standard scales or scale intervals. Mexican composer Julián Carrillo created in the late 1800s one of the first microtonal scales which he called "Sonido 13", The composer Harry Partch made custom musical instruments to play compositions that employed a 43-note scale system, and the American jazz vibraphonist Emil Richards experimented with such scales in his 'Microtonal Blues Band' in the 1970s. Easley Blackwood has written compositions in all equal-tempered scales from 13 to 24 notes. John Cage, the American experimental composer, also created works for prepared piano which use varied, sometimes random, scales. Erv Wilson introduced concepts such as Combination Product Sets (Hexany), Moments of Symmetry and golden horagrams, used by many modern composers. Microtonal scales are also used in traditional Indian Raga music, which has a variety of modes which are used not only as modes or scales but also as defining elements of the song, or raga.

Notes

References

  1. ^ Benward & Saker (2003). Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I, p.25. Seventh Edition. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0.
  2. ^ Explanation of the origin of musical scales clarified by a string division method by Yuri Landman on furious.com
  3. ^ Burns 1998, 247
  4. ^ Zonis, 1973

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After how many keys on a musical keyboard does a new scale start?
Q. How many keys apart do they have to be in order for it to be considered skipping a scale?
Asked by sparklers - Sat Dec 6 03:51:31 2008 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments

A. A scale is made of 8 notes, however the first and 8th note of the scale are the same note; they are a pentatonic (you can hear a pentatonic in the Jet song "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" - the main guitar riff). If you play a pattern of notes along the keyboard, that is a scale. Which ever note you start on, that is the bass note the scale will be in. So if you play 7 notes and then play the 8th note (pentatonic), you will be starting the same scale over again if you play the same pattern of notes again. Most scales are different - there are different names for the same scale sometimes. On the 8th note of one scale, you will be playing the first note of a new scale.
Answered by Cam - Sat Dec 6 07:13:03 2008

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