Transcript Different scales

Today you will:
• Know about devices you can use in your
compositions and that you will come across in
the Listening Exam
• To understand the different types of scales found
in music
• By the end of the lesson you will be able to:
• Accurately identify devices and scales used in
melodies through listening and performing
activities
Different types of scales
• Scales are the basis of all music
• A scale is a group of notes played in descending or
ascending order
• Here are some scales you need to know at GCSE:
 Pentatonic
 Chromatic
 Whole – tone – scale
 Diatonic scales
Pentatonic
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Pentagon is a 5 sided shape
Pentatonic is a scale which uses 5 notes
Most obvious one is all the black notes
The most common pentatonic scale has no semitones (next door
notes)
• Every note is either a tone (2 next door notes) or more away from
the next note in the scale
• Has an oriental, Chinese flavour to the music and used a lot in Celtic
and Scottish folk music e.g. Auld Lang Syne
Chromatic Scale
• ‘Chroma’ is the Greek word meaning ‘colour’
• The chromatic scale is the one using the 12 notes of an octave and
with all these notes a composer can make any ‘colour’ in their work
• All notes are semitones or next door notes
• Music that makes heavy use of chromatic notes sounds magnificent
and complex
• It is also used a lot in horror music
Whole-tone-scale
• This scale is what it says it is i.e. every step from one
note to the next is a whole tone (not a semitone)
• This creates a scale of 6 pitches
• This music sounds airy, flimsy, fluffy and weightless
• Debussy, a French composer used a lot of whole-tonescales in his music
• Name the whole tones starting on C
Diatonic Scales
• Most Western music uses diatonic scales
• They are 7 note scales using 5 tones and 2 semitones to
arrive at the note an octave higher than where it started
• Major scale – TTSTTTS (all white notes starting on C)
happy sound
• Minor scale – TSTTSTT (melodic minor) – dark,
depressing sound
Harmonic Minor Scale - To play a harmonic minor scale, you simply
raise the seventh note of the scale by a half-step as you go up and
down the scale. For example:
Natural C Minor Scale = C - D - Eb - F - G - Ab - Bb - C
Harmonic C Minor Scale = C - D - Eb - F - G - Ab - B - C
Identify different scales
Place number of extract
in correct scale circle
Chromatic
Pentatonic
Whole-tone-scale
Diatonic scale
major
Diatonic scale
Minor