In music, an altered scale is a scale in which all of the notes of the scale except the tonic have been flattened (lowered in pitch) by an interval of a half step from a major scale. For example, while the C major scale consists of the notes Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Music Look up Music in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikisource, as part of the 1911 Encyclopedia Wikiproject, has original text related to this article: Music Wikicities has a wiki about Music: Music Music City : a collaborative music database All Music Guide... In music, a scale is an unordered collection of notes or pitches, as opposed to a series of intervals, which is a musical mode. ... The tonic is the first note of a musical scale, and in the tonal method of music composition it is extremely important. ... Alternate uses: Flat (disambiguation) Figure 1. ... In music theory, an interval is the distance in pitch between two notes, the lower and higher members of the interval. ... In music theory, the major scale is one of the diatonic scales. ...

C D E F G A B C

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (948x76, 2 KB)C major scale. ...

the C altered scale consists of the notes

C D-flat E-flat E G-flat A-flat B-flat C Image File history File links Download high resolution version (948x76, 2 KB)C altered scale with flats. ...

Another way to create an altered scale is to sharpen (raise in pitch) the tonic of a major scale by a half step; for example, when we sharpen the tonic of the B major scale, which has the notes SHARP (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice) are anti-racist skinheads who often confront those they feel to be neo-nazis, racists, or possessed of other prejudices. ...

B C-sharp D-sharp E F-sharp G-sharp A-sharp B Image File history File links Download high resolution version (948x78, 2 KB)B altered scale with sharps. ...

we get the C altered scale

C C-sharp D-sharp E F-sharp G-sharp A-sharp C Image File history File links Download high resolution version (948x76, 2 KB)C altered scale with sharps. ...

the notes of which are enharmonic (identical, in the equal temperament system) with the notes of the C altered scale as it was first described on this page. In music, an enharmonic is a note which is the equivalent of some other note, but spelled differently. ... Equal temperament is a scheme of musical tuning in which the octave is divided into a series of equal steps (equal frequency ratios). ...

Another way to look at the altered scale is that it is identical to the seventh musical mode of the ascending melodic minor scale. In music, a mode is an ordered series of musical intervals, which, along with the key or tonic, define the pitches. ... A minor scale in musical theory is a diatonic scale whose third scale degree is an interval of a minor third above the tonic. ...

One may also think about it more abstractly, relative to the diminished scale or the whole tones scale. The altered scale starts with the first five pitches of a half-whole diminished scale and terminates in whole steps (hence called the "diminished whole tone scale). In jazz it often functions as a more intriguing dominant chord as there is tension between the tonic and the fifth of the dominant chord (minor 6 away).