The Scales
A scale is a succession of choosen sounds with intervals settled in the interval of one octava. Board of the intervals and their names :
|
INTERVAL
|
NAME
|
NOTATION
|
| 1 half-tone | Minor second | 2m or 2b |
| 1 tone | Major second | 2 |
| 1 tones and half | Minor third | 3 m or 3b |
| 2 tones | Major third | 3M |
| 2 tones and half | Perfect fourth | 4 |
| 3 tones | Augmented fourth Diminished fifth |
4# 5b |
| 3 tones and half | Perfect fifth | 5 |
| 4 tones | Augmented fifth Minor sixth |
5# 6m or 6b |
| 4 tones and half | Major sixth Diminished seventh |
6 dim 7 |
| 5 tones | Augmented sixth Minor seventh |
6# or 6+ 7 |
| 5 tones and half | Major seventh | 7M |
| 6 tones | Octava | 1 |
The scale that we all know is the major diatonic scale, called also ionian mode :
| SCALE | C | D | E | F | G | A | B | C |
| NOTATION ANGLO-SAXONNE |
C | D | E | F | G | A | B | C |
What does diatonic scale mean ? It means that all the notes of the scale have a different name, and that the interval of the succession of the choosen sounds is neighbouring at about 1 tone or 1 half-tone.
Let's analyse now the successions of intervals that define the major scale in C tonality :
| C/D | D/E | E/F | F/G | G/A | A/B | B/C |
| 1 tone | 1 tone | 1/2 tone | 1 tone | 1 tone | 1 tone | 1/2 tone |
Analysis of the C major scale, by using the board of intervals :
|
NOTATION
|
INTERVAL
|
NAME
|
| C | 0 | Tonic 1 |
| C to D | 1 tone | Major second 2 |
| C to E | 2 tones | Major third 3M |
| C to F | 2 tones and half | Perfect fourth 4 |
| C to G | 3 tones and half | Perfect fifth 5 |
| C to A | 4 tones and half | Major sixth 6 |
| C to B | 5 tones and half | Major seventh 7M |
| C to C | 6 tones | Octava |
Scheme of the major scale or ionian mode
| 1 tone | 1 tone | 1/2 tone | 1 tone | 1 tone | 1 tone | 1/2 tone |
| 1 | 2 | 3M | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7M |
What is tonality ?
In the little lexical of the musical terms by Marc Pincherle, Maurice Emmanuel defines the tonality being a set of melodic and harmonic phenomenons that are organized around the tonic.
The tonic is the note that gives its name to the tonality and that is the foundation of the system. All is articulated from this note..
Let's build together the major scale in D tonality :
D --1 tone-->E--1 tone-->F# --1\2 tone-->G--1 tone-->A--1 tone-->B--1 tone-->C# --1\2 tone-->D
What about trying together to build the major scale in the Eb tonality ? ;-)
Eb --1 tone-->F --1 tone-->G --1\2 tone-->Ab --1 tone-->Bb --1 tone-->C --1 tone-->D --1\2 tone-->Eb
It's up to you to build the major scales in the following tonalities, but be careful, keep it in your mind :one cannot have 2 times the same name of note in the diatonic scale :
C# Db D Eb mi F F# Gb G Ab A Bb B