In music, a scale is a set of musical notes that provides material for part or all of a musical work. Scales are typically ordered in pitch, with their ordering providing a measure of musical distance. Scales differ from modes in that scales do not have a primary or "tonic" pitch. Thus a single scale can have many different modes, depending on which of its notes is chosen as primary. Music is a human activity which involves structured and audible sounds, which is used for artistic or aesthetic, entertainment, or ceremonial purposes. ... Music is a human activity which involves structured and audible sounds, which is used for artistic or aesthetic, entertainment, or ceremonial purposes. ... In music, pitch is the perception of the frequency of a note. ... In music, a mode is an ordered series of musical intervals, which, along with the key or tonic, define the pitches. ...

Every note in a scale is referred to as a scale degree. The distance between two successive scale degrees is called a "scale step." Composers often transform musical patterns by moving every note in the pattern by a constant number of scale degrees: thus, in the C major scale, the pattern C-D-E ("doe, a deer") might be shifted up a single scale degree to become D-E-F ("ray, a drop"). 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. In music or music theory a scale degree is an individual note of a scale, both its pitch and its diatonic function. ...

Scales may be described according to the intervals they contain, for example In music theory, an interval is the relationship between two notes or pitches, the lower and higher members of the interval. ...

• diatonic, chromatic, whole tone

or by the number of different pitch classes they contain: In Music theory, the diatonic major scale (also known as the Guido scale), from the Greek diatonikos or to stretch out, is a fundamental building block of the European-influenced musical tradition. ... The chromatic scale is the scale that contains all twelve pitches of the Western tempered scale. ... The musical interval of a major second — also called a whole-tone — is the relationship between the first note (the root or tonic) and the second note in a major scale (and also a minor scale). ... In music and music theory a pitch class contains all notes that have the same name; for example, all Es, no matter which octave they are in, are in the same pitch class. ...

• most common: pentatonic, hexatonic, heptatonic or five, six, and seven tone scales, respectively.
• used in prehistoric music: ditonic or two, tritonic or three, tetratonic or four
• in modern classical music: octatonic or eight.

Scales are often abstracted from performance or composition, though they are often used precompositionally to guide or limit a composition. One or more scales may be used in a composition, such as in Claude Debussy'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. In music, a pentatonic scale is a scale with five notes per octave. ... In music a hexatonic scale is a scale (music) with six (hexa) degrees. ... In music a heptatonic scale is a scale (music) with seven (hepta) degrees. ... In the history of music, prehistoric music (previously called primitive music) is all music produced in preliterate cultures (prehistory), beginning somewhere in very late geological history. ... Modernism in musicis characterized by a desire for or belief in progressand science, surrealism, anti-romanticism, politicaladvocacy, general intellectualism, and/or a breaking with tradition or common practice. ... In music, a diminished scale (set 8-28) is a scale in which the notes of the scale ascend in alternating intervals of a whole step and a half step. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Musical composition is: an original piece of music the structure of a musical piece the process of creating a new piece of music // A musical composition A piece of music exists in the form of a written composition in musical notation or as a single acoustic event (a live performance... In music, precompositional decisions are those decisions which a composer decides upon before or while beginning to create a composition. ... Claude Debussy Achille-Claude Debussy () (August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918) was a composer. ... LIsle Joyeuse is an extended solo piano piece by Claude Debussy composed in 1904. ...

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (894x264, 8 KB)Whole tone, lydian, and major scales File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

Terminological note

Musicians use the term "scale" in several incompatible senses.

Scale vs. Mode. Sometimes the term refers to an ordered collection in which no element has been chosen as primary. Thus musicians will talk about the "diatonic scale," the "octatonic scale," or the "whole tone scale." However, the term is sometimes used to mean "mode," indicating that an element of the scale has been chosen as most important. Thus the "C major scale" and the "A natural minor scale" contain the same notes; the difference between them consists only in which note is assigned primacy. Similarly, jazz musicians use the term altered scale to refer to the seventh mode of the melodic minor scale. For consistency, this article will use the term "scale" to refer to an ordered collection with no "primary" or "tonic" note. 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. ...

Scale vs. Scale Type. Sometimes the term "scale" referes to a specific ordered collection of pitches. For instance, the "C diatonic scale" contains the pitch classes C-D-E-F-G-A-B and no others, while the "G diatonic scale" contains the pitch classes G-A-B-C-D-E-F# and no others. However, the term "scale" is also used to refer to types of scale related by transposition. In this sense, musicians will talk about the diatonic scale, considering the C diatonic scale and G diatonic scale to be instances of a single, larger category. Consistency suggests distinguishing a "scale" (such as C or G diatonic) from "scale type" (the diatonic scale-type"). To avoid neologisms, however, we will follow traditional musical practice, using the term "scale" in both senses. Context should allow readers to distinguish between particular scales and the larger types to which they belong. In music transposition is moving a note or collection of notes (or pitches) up or down in pitch by a constant interval. ...

In addition, the term "scale" is used in psychoacoustics to refer to various ways of measuring distances between pitches. See bark scale and mel scale. Psychoacoustics is the study of subjective human perception of sounds. ... The Bark scale is a psychoacoustical scale. ... The mel scale, proposed by Stevens, Volkman and Newman in 1937 is a perceptual scale of pitches judged by listeners to be equal in distance from one another. ...

Scales in Western music

Scales in traditional Western music 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 intervals of tones and semitones (the harmonic minor scale including a three-semitone interval; the pentatonic including two of these). Notes with one note between them are separated by three or four semitones. Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ... This article will be merged with Italian musical terms at some point in the near future. ... In music theory, an interval is the relationship between two notes or pitches, the lower and higher members of the interval. ...

Traditional Western classical music uses just three types of scale:

• The diatonic scale (seven notes)
• The melodic and harmonic minor scales (seven notes)

In the nineteenth and twentieth century, additional types of scale become common: In music theory, the major scale (or major mode) is one of the diatonic scales. ... A minor scale in musical theory is a diatonic scale whose third scale degree is an interval of a minor third above the tonic. ...

• The chromatic scale (twelve notes)
• The whole tone scale (six notes)
• The pentatonic scale (five notes)
• The octatonic or diminished scales

A large--indeed, virtually endless--variety of other scales exist: The chromatic scale is the scale that contains all twelve pitches of the Western tempered scale. ... In music, a whole tone scale (set form 6-35, 02468t) is a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole step. ... In music, a pentatonic scale is a scale with five notes per octave. ... In music, a diminished scale is a scale in which the notes of the scale ascend in alternating intervals of a whole step and a half step. ...

• The Phrygian dominant scales (this is in fact a mode of the harmonic minor scale)
• The Arabic scales

The Phrygian dominant scale is constructed by raising the third of the Phrygian scale and is the fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale, the fifth being the dominant. ... In music, the Arabic scale is arrived at by either: Raising the seventh of the Jewish scale Raising the seventh and third of the Phrygian mode Lowering the sixth and second of a major scale The sequence of steps comprising the Arabic scale is: half – augmented – half – whole – half – augmented...

Scale degrees

A scale degree is a numeric position of a note within a scale ordered by increasing pitch. The simplest system is to name each degree after its numerical position in the scale, for example: the first, the fourth. Note that such an ordering requires the choice of a "first" note; hence numberings are not intrinsic to the scale itself, but rather to its modes. (For example, the C major and A natural minor scales contain the same notes, but assign them different scale-degree numbers.) However, the difference between two scale degrees is independent of the choice of scale degree 1. Thus whether two notes are adjacent in a scale, or separated by one note, does not depend on the mode under discussion. Because intervals are inclusive, a fifth describes a note which is four notes after the tonic. In music or music theory a scale degree is an individual note of a scale, both its pitch and its diatonic function. ... In music theory, an interval is the relationship between two notes or pitches, the lower and higher members of the interval. ...

Major scales have seven notes which are named, in order: tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, leading-tone (or leading-note). Also commonly used is the "movable do" solfege naming convention in which each scale degree is given a syllable. In the major scale, the solfege syllables are: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti (or Si), Do (or Ut). The tonic is the first note of a musical scale, and in the tonal method of music composition it is extremely important. ... In music theory, a leading-tone (called the leading-note outside the US) is a note or pitch which is resolves or leads to a note one semitone higher or lower, being an lower and upper leading-tone, respectively. ... Solfege table in an Irish classroom In music and sight singing solfege or solmization is a way of assigning syllables to degrees or steps of the diatonic scale. ...

Non-Western scales

In traditional Western music, scale degrees are most often separated by equally tempered tones or semitones, creating at most, twelve pitches. Many other musical traditions employ scales that include other intervals or a different number of pitches. 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 intervals. Ragas in Indian classical music often employ intervals smaller than a semitone (Callow & Sheperd, 1972; Jhairazbhoy & Stone, 1963). Arab music maqams may use quarter tone intervals (Zonis, 1973). In both ragas and maqams, the distance between a note and an inflection (e.g., Śruti) of that same note may be less than a semitone. Saron - Indonesian Embassy in Canberra A gamelan is a kind of musical ensemble of Indonesian origin typically featuring metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs. ... Pelog is one of the two essential scales of Gamelan music native to Bali and Java, in Indonesia. ... Slendro (called salendro by the Sundanese) is a pentatonic (five tone) scale, one of the two most common scales used in Indonesian gamelan music. ... Raga (rāg /राग (Hindi), raga (Anglicised from rāgaḥ/रागः (Sanskrit)) or rāgam /ராகம் (Tamil)) are the melodic modes used in Indian classical music. ... The origins of Indian classical music, the classical music of India, can be found from the oldest of scriptures, part of the Hindu tradition, the Vedas. ... Arab music is the music of Arabic-speaking people or countries, especially those centered around the Arabian Peninsula. ... In Arab music a maqam [sic] (plural maqamat) is, a technique of improvisation that defines the pitches, patterns, and development of a piece of music and which is unique to Arabian art music. ... A quarter tone is an interval half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which is half a whole tone. ... The Å›ruti (Sanskrit thing heard, sound) is the smallest interval of the tuning system of Indian classical music. ...

Microtonal scales

The term microtonal music usually refers to music with roots in traditional Western music that employs non-standard scales or scale intervals. 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. John Cage, the American experimental composer also created works for prepared piano which use varied, sometimes random, scales. 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. Microtonal music is music using microtones -- intervals of less than a semitone, or as Charles Ives put it, the notes between the cracks of the piano. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... Luigi Waites plays a vibraphone, July 29, 1999 The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the percussion family. ... Emil Richards is a percussionist who plays a variety of different percussive instruments. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... John Cage John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American experimental music composer, writer and visual artist. ... A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects (preparations) between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers. ... Raga (rāg /राग (Hindi), raga (Anglicised from rāgaḥ/रागः (Sanskrit)) or rāgam /ராகம் (Tamil)) are the melodic modes used in Indian classical music. ... This article is about modes as used in music. ... A song is a relatively short musical composition for the human voice (possibly accompanied by other musical instruments), which features words (lyrics). ... Raga (rāg /राग (Hindi), raga (Anglicised from rāgaḥ/रागः (Sanskrit)) or rāgam /ராகம் (Tamil)) are the melodic modes used in Indian classical music. ...

Jazz and blues

Through the introduction of blue notes, jazz and blues employ scale intervals smaller than a semitone. See also: jazz scales. The blue note is an interval that is technically neither major or minor but 'in-between', 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. In jazz and blues notes added to the major scale for expressive quality, loosely defined by musicians to be an alteration to a scale or chord that makes it sound like the blues. ... Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the early 1920s in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory, and is marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ... The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on a pentatonic scale and a characteristic twelve-bar chord progression. ... One important aspect of jazz is its use of many complementary scales and the modification of these scales by the introduction of blue notes. ... In music theory, an interval is the relationship between two notes or pitches, the lower and higher members of the interval. ... Major is a military rank denoting an officer of mid-level command status. ... The term minor (from Latin smaller, lesser) may refer to: In Education minor, a secondary focus of a Bachelors degree, the primary focus being a major. ... The word key has several uses: Look up Key on Wiktionary, the free dictionary // Instrument or Tool A key (instrument) comprises a moving part of a musical instrument. ... In music, a pentatonic scale is a scale with five notes per octave. ... In music, a mode is an ordered series of musical intervals, which, along with the key or tonic, define the pitches. ...

Chords, patterns, and scalar transposition

As discussed above, musicians often utilize scales by shifting (transposing) a musical pattern by some constant number of scale degrees. This process is known as scalar transposition.

The harmonies of traditional tonal music are constructed in this way. Western tonal chords are stacks of thirds built above a particular scale degree, which is called the root of the harmony. Thus in a C diatonic scale: CDEFGAB, a three-note chord built on C will consist of the notes C-E-G. The same pattern, built on the note G, produces the harmony G-B-D. In music, see the following intervals: Major third Minor third The mediant, and the chord built on the mediant, is often called simply the third, as it is the third degree of the diatonic scale. ... In music or music theory a scale degree is an individual note of a scale, both its pitch and its diatonic function. ... Primary and secondary roots in a cotton plant In vascular plants, the root is that organ of a plant body that typically lies below the surface of the soil (compare with stem). ...

Equal temperament is a scheme of musical tuning in which the octave is divided into a series of equal steps (equal frequency ratios). ... In music theory, an interval is the relationship between two notes or pitches, the lower and higher members of the interval. ... In music theory, a diatonic scale (from the Greek diatonikos, to stretch out; also known as the heptatonia prima; set form 7-35) is a seven-note musical scale comprising five whole-tone and two half-tone steps, in which the half tones are maximally separated. ... The chromatic scale is the scale that contains all twelve pitches of the Western tempered scale. ... In music, a whole tone scale (set form 6-35, 02468t) is a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole step. ... In music and music theory a pitch class contains all notes that have the same name; for example, all Es, no matter which octave they are in, are in the same pitch class. ... In music, a pentatonic scale is a scale with five notes per octave. ... In music a hexatonic scale is a scale (music) with six (hexa) degrees. ... In music a heptatonic scale is a scale (music) with seven (hepta) degrees. ... In music, a diminished scale (set 8-28) is a scale in which the notes of the scale ascend in alternating intervals of a whole step and a half step. ...

Source

• Burns, Edward M. (1999). "Intervals, Scales, and Tuning", The Psychology of Music second edition. Deutsch, Diana, ed. San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN 0122135644.
• Zonis, E. (1973). Classical Persian music: An Introduction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

External links

• http://musicianswiki.com/index.php/scales Lots of scales (including exotic ones) with midi examples.
• http://www.skytopia.com/project/scale.html
• http://home.austin.rr.com/jmjensen/musicTheory.html
• http://www.greenwych.ca/natbasis.htm (Evolution of Scales)
• http://www.greenwych.ca/cycl-5-2.htm (7-Note Solution -- why history & archaeologists turns up so many 5 and 7 note scales)
• http://www.greenwych.ca/fl-compl.htm (Oldest known "Neanderthal flute" plays do-re-mi-fa scalenotes.)