Scales and Chords

SCALES AND CHORDS In music, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, while descending scales are ordered by decreasing pitch. Some scales contain different pitches when ascending than when descending. Scales A scale is a group of pitches (scale degrees) arranged in ascending order. These pitches span an octave. Diatonic scales are scales that include half and whole steps. The first and last note is the tonic. It is the most 'stable' note, or rather the easiest to find. Because of this, diatonic melodies often end on the diatonic note. The other notes in the scale also have names. The second note is the supertonic. The third is the mediant, halfway between the tonic and dominant. The fourth note is the subdominant. The fifth note is the dominant. The submediant is the sixth note. The subtonic is the seventh note in the natural minor scale. The seventh tone of the major, harmonic and melodic minor scales is called the leading tone if it is one half step lower than the tonic. The Major Scale The major scale consists of seven different pitches. There are half steps between the third and fourth and seventh and eighth scale degrees; whole steps exist between all other steps. Below is a the C major scale. The pattern of whole and half steps is the same for all major scales. By changing the first note, then using the pattern as a guide, you can construct any major scale. Likewise, if you know the pattern for any other scale, you can create them, too.

The Natural Minor Scales

These scales have seven different scale degrees. There are half steps between the second and third and the fifth and sixth degrees; whole steps exist between all other steps. Shown below is the A minor scale.

The Harmonic Minor Scale This scale is the same as the natural minor scale, except the seventh step is raised a half step. There is now an interval of one half step between the seventh and eighth notes, and one and a half steps between the sixth and seventh notes. This is a harmonic A minor.

The Melodic Minor Scale This is another minor scale variation. In this scale, the sixth and seventh notes are each raised one half step. All the patterns to this point have been the same as one climbs and descends the scales. The melodic minor scale, however, ascends with the modifications noted above, but descends in the natural minor scale. This is a melodic A minor.

Pentatonic Scales Pentatonic scales, as their name suggests, have only five notes. To get from one end of the scale to the other, they require gaps of more than a half step. Scales that do not follow the interval patterns of the diatonic or pentatonic scales are called nondiatonic scales. Many nondiatonic scales have no identifiable tonic. The chromatic scale is a nondiatonic scale that consists of half steps only. Because each pitch is equidistant, there is no tonic. A whole tone scale is comprised of whole steps. Like the chromatic scale, it too has no tonic. The blues scale is a chromatic variant of the major scale. This scale contains flat thirds and sevenths which , alternate with normal thirds and sevenths. This , alternating creates the blues inflection. CHORDS Chords are the vertical arrangement of notes from a scale. The study of chords is called Harmony. Harmony is concerned with how one or more notes interact, and how they follow each other. Many people define chords as several notes played simultaneously. It must be pointed out that it is possible to play music of a chordal nature on the flute, trumpet, or a lone human voice, all three being monophonic instruments. Since obviously monophonic instruments cannot play a stacked chord where the notes are sounded simultaneously; the chords are implied. A simpler way of viewing this is that when chord tones are played as an arpeggio on a monophonic instrument the human ear interprets that there is a harmonic structure. We therefore define a chord as the basic element of harmony. -

A chord is a combination of three or more notes. Chords are built off of a single note, called the roots.