- Pitch-class collection: the group of pitch classes found in the music. - The word chromatic comes from the Greek word "chroma", meaning "color"; chromatic collects contain one of each possible pitch-class "color". - When you have a diatonic collection - seven different letter names are in a particular arrangement - A diatonic collection is a subset of the chromatic collection
SCALES: ORDERED PITCH-CLASS COLLECTIONS
- An order collection of pitches arranged according to the pattern of whole and half steps : W-W-H-W-W-W-H (form of diatonic) is called a major scale - When the chromatic collection is ordered, it becomes the chromatic scale, made up entirely consecutive half steps (go up by sharps, go down by flats) - The chromatic scale's steps are all the same size: half steps - A major scale has a pattern W-W-H-W-W-W-H - When you hear a half step in a major scale, you know it is one of two specific locations, while in a chromatic scale the half steps could be anywhere. - A major scale may begin on any pitch but it must include each of the seven letter names
Scale Degrees - The word "scale comes from the Latin scalae meaning "stairs" or "ladder" - Each pitch of the scale is a scale degree - When you write or play a scale, the beginning note (tonic) is usually repeated one octave higher at the end - The tonic scale egree is crucial to the sound and structure of scales and musical passages; it is the most stable scale degree and often serves as the final pitch of a melody - Scale-degree numbers are written with a caret above (^) the number - Another method, solfege, assigns each scale degree a syllable - do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do
Spelling Major Scales - To write an ascending major scale from any pitch: (1) Write the given pitch on the staff (2) Write pitches with no accidentals on every line and space from that pitch, up to and including the same pitch class an octave higher (3) Label the space between each pair of consecutive pitches, from bottom to top, W-W-H-W-W-W-H (4) Add an accidental (# or b) as neeed to make the appropriate whole or half step
- A way to rember the whole- and half-step pattern is to divide the scale into two four-note goroups, also called a major tetrachord - Each tetrachord consists of the pattern W-W-H and the two tetrachords are a whole step apart - To "spell" a major scale with the correct letter name and acciental for pitch: write eight pitches and use accidentals that are either all sharps or all flats, not a mixture
Spelling Chromatic Scales - Unlike major scales, chromatic scales must include some letter names more than once - A half step spelled D-D# is a chromatic half step :: A half step spelled D-Eb is a diatonic half step - When no key is specified, simply raise notes when ascending and lower them when descending - If a key is specified, first write the underlying major scale in whole notes, then fill in each whole step with a chromatic half step: raise the scale degrees with # or ♮ going up, and lower them with a flat or ♮ going down - Correct scale spelling makes sight reading a score easier
MAJOR KEYS
Key signatures - In tonal music, writing in accidentals is not standard practice - Use a shorthand notation, called a key signature, at the beginning of the score to specify consistent accidentals for the whole piece - A key signature shows which pitches are to be sharped or flatted consistently throught a work, it appears after the clef - To say that a piece of music is "in" a key it means that its pithces are drawn primarily from a single scale and that the pitches have predictable relationships of stability and instability
Circle of Fifths - The important relationship between keys is called the circle of fifths - The sharp keys appear around the right side of circle, while flats appear around the left - The keys at the bottom will be either sharp or flat since they are enharmonic
Identifying a Key from a Key Signature - To determine the major key from a key signature: *For sharp keys, the last sharp of the signature is the 7th note in the scale. So to find the tonic, go up a diatonic half step * For flat keys, the last flat is the 4th note in the scale. count down four diatonic steps to the tonic
Writing Key Signatures - To write music that others can read easily, you need to learn the standard order, octave, and spacing for each - The key signature goes between the clef and meter signature - The sharps are positioned on the staff alternation "down-up", while flats go "up-down"
Identifying the Key of a Piece - To find the key of a piece, first check the key signature - Then check the beginning and end of the piece for characteristic scale degrees - The last note of the melody usually ends on the tonic of the key
THE MAJOR PENTATONIC SCALE
- A pentatonic scale features only five of the seven diatonic pitches - A major pentatonic scale is when it begins with the first three degrees of a major scale