The musical scales

You've heard of them. You probably know some. Musical scales are the melodic basis of most of the songs we hear every day and, in addition, they have a direct relationship with the musical harmony that appears in arrangements and productions of all genres and styles.

Musical scales go up and down Of the infinite notes that exist, although we have not given each of them a name, in Western music, we usually use only twelve. But, furthermore, music and songs do not usually use those twelve notes in each piece of music, but rather a selection of them. There can be five, seven, nine or more, in total. Most of these notes usually belong to one or more musical scales.

C Major Scale

What is a musical scale?

A musical scale It is a group of specific notes with an order and specific distances between them. We can say, in another way, that it is a pattern of musical intervals that repeats in each octave. The major scale has a defined pattern and, thanks to this, and the equal temperament that is the type of tuning that we usually use, its sound is the same and we can recognize it whatever the pitch at which it is playing. That is the musical value of a musical scale: its sound. The use of each of them leads to one type of melody or another, to some sensations, to some environments, even to more or less defined states of mind.

The musical intervals

The key to understanding how the scales are formed are the intervals. A musical interval is the distance between two given notes. And these distances are measured in semitones.

Interval pattern of major scales A semitone is the result of dividing a musical octave, that is, the distance from a C to the next highest C, for example, into twelve equal parts. The famous equal temperament. Therefore, each octave contains twelve semitones, or what is the same, six tones. Each of these distances between two notes is given a name. For example, a distance of 1 semitone will be called a Minor Second, 2 semitones (or 1 tone, which is the same) will be a Major Second, three semitones (or 1 and a half tone), well, a Minor Third and so on until completing the eighth. And, once again, thanks to the same tuning that we mostly use in Western music, understanding an octave will make us understand all the other octaves of the sound spectrum that the human ear can hear.

Scales and chords

Furthermore, since music is a whole composed of different elements that are closely related and, to a large extent, depend on each other, using one scale or another to create a melody will condition the harmony used for the accompaniment, especially. And if our creative process is the other way around, for example, and we start composing a song from the chords, using certain progressions or cadences and adding the melody later, that harmonic context, those chords will cause the chosen notes to sound in a different way. or otherwise together.

Chords of the key of C Major

Melodies and musical scales

If the notes of a melody belong to a certain scale, normally, that melody will have the sound or character of the scale. Major scales are usually identified as more energetic and happy, although it really depends on how we combine them. The same thing happens with minor scales. They are associated with quieter, melancholic, sad or simply meditative sound environments and themes. In any case, all this is just theory and in no case should it condition or limit our sonic imagination, our creativity, our singing and melodic sensitivity. If a melody resonates well in our ears and in our interior, it will be a good melody and will exactly fulfill our objective, which is none other than to express ourselves and communicate our perception of human affairs. Each melody, no matter how strange it may seem to you, will find its harmony and its accompaniment in one way or another. There is no problem with this.

Types of scales

Musical scales are, in short, a selection of notes that we can make freely. If you choose 5, 6, 7 or more notes and order them in a specific way, you will be using a scale. But, in reality only a handful of them are the ones we use on most occasions and they are the ones with which our ear is most familiar. One way to classify them is the following:

Diatonic scales: The Major scale, the harmonic minor, the natural minor and the melodic minor.Modal scales: Doric, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian, etc…Other scales: Chromatic, Pentatonic, Blues, etc… The most important scale in Western music is the Major scale, from which the major key arises. The tonal system that is the most used harmonic context in the West for more than 300 years is based on it. Its influence is so important that almost any definition or classification will be made regarding it. Its structure and sound based on the formula of tension and resolution, which represent the first chord or tonic and its fifth or Dominant, has affected other scales directly, for example, the natural minor scale. This scale, which appears from the sixth note of the major scale, is considered its relative minor and, although it contains the same notes, its interval pattern is different and means that a fifth chord or Dominant harmonic degree cannot be constructed with them, but rather a minor one. This makes it impossible to replicate the perfect cadence that leads from the dominant tension to the tonic rest of the major scale.

Chords of the key of A minor This raises the question whether the natural minor scale is a diatonic scale since it cannot meet the main requirement of the tonal system and its use, or it is punctual and combined with the harmonic or melodic minor scales that can. they contain that dominant chord in the fifth degree, or it becomes more of a modal. In this last case we give the same scale another name: Wind.

Podcast episode dedicated to scales

Conclusions

In short, musical scales are everywhere, even if you know nothing about music theory, even if you don't hear them explicitly in ascending or descending order. They are infiltrated in the melodies of the songs and the solos or instrumental improvisations, for example, of many musical genres. Knowing them will give us a deeper understanding of harmony, melodic developments and also, perhaps most importantly, why they sound that particular way. Each distance between two notes causes a series of sonorous consequences and a determined set of these consequences is, in the end, the sonority of a scale and, potentially, of the chord structure that is built on it. Each scale sounds different and is unique in that sense. And that unique sound is what will help us express ourselves and musically communicate our messages to the world, our regrets, our joys or anything that we want to print in musical discourse. We're going to write songs with them. Let's sing our truth. #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_column_with_background { padding: 10px; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form_column:not(:first-child) { margin-left: 20px; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_paragraph { line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_segment_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_text_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_textarea_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_select_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_radio_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_checkbox_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_list_label, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date_label { display: block; font-weight: normal; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_text, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_textarea, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_select, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date_month, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date_day, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date_year, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_date { display: block; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_text, #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_textarea { width: 200px; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_checkbox { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_submit { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_divider { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_message { } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form_loading { width: 30px; text-align: center; line-height: normal; } #mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form_loading > span { width: 5px; height: 5px; background-color: #5b5b5b; }#mailpoet_form_3{border: 1px solid #fcb900;border-radius: 40px;text-align: center;}#mailpoet_form_3 form.mailpoet_form {padding: 20px;}#mailpoet_form_3{width: 70%;}#mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_message {margin : 0; padding: 0 20px;}#mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_paragraph.last {margin-bottom: 0} @media (max-width: 500px) {#mailpoet_form_3 {background-image: none;}} @media (min-width: 500px) { #mailpoet_form_3 .last .mailpoet_paragraph:last-child {margin-bottom: 0}} @media (max-width: 500px) {#mailpoet_form_3 .mailpoet_form_column:last-child .mailpoet_paragraph:last-child {margin-bottom: 0}} Please leave this field emptyDo you write songs or would you like to?

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