Page 6: Musical Scales
Musical scales are an arrangement of pitches that are placed in rising order. The diatonic scale is the basic scale in European music. The diatonic scale is made up of two semitones (s) and five whole tones (t). This is the order of the tones in the diatonic scale: t t s t t t s.
image taken from source #1, page 102
It is easiest to understand musical scales when looking at a piano keyboard. Every key (black and white) on the keyboard is a semitone. If we move just one key, we are moving just one semitone. If we move two keys, we are moving a whole tone.
image taken from source #1, page 102 (adjusted by the creators of this site)
The colored keys on the above scale is the c-major (diatonic) scale. It begins on middle C and travels up an octave. The colored keys are each of the steps of the scale. Since we know that each key on the keyboard is a semitone, we can see that these steps follow the diatonic pattern of t t s t t t s.
Musical scales are arranged in pitch and frequency. The frequencies are arranged from high to low by definite frequencies. In Music, Sound, & Technology, John Eargle wrote that, "By way of definition, the term scale refers to an ordered series of notes which provides a basis for tonal composition" (55). Since scales consist of frequencies, we find that different types of scales consist of different types of frequencies. Pleasant sounding scales (major scales) are made of frequencies of simple ratios of small whole numbers (consonant intervals). Unpleasant (dissonant) sounding scales (such as minor scales) are made of frequencies of ratios that are not small whole numbers (dissonant intervals).
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