Introduction To The Musical Scale.
Basic Stuff.
What is a scale in music?
Intuitive idea:
If you have lived long enough on planet earth, chances are that you already know what a musical scale is. Remember "Do re mi fa so la ti" from the music lessons you were forced to take? Yes. That is a musical scale. Meanwhile try to recall how after the note 'ti', there would always come a 'do' which is the same note as the first 'do' we started with, but it is always is higher in pitch than the 'do' which we started with. Chances are that you already know that the interval (distance) between the first 'do' we started with and the higher 'do' we ended on, is called a musical octave. Hence, likewise the distance/interval between any two consecutive 'do's is an octave.
Rough definition:
Hence, a scale can be defined as a collection of notes divided within an octave. Now, by some miracle of nature, it just so happens that our division of an octave into 7 unique notes, namely 'Do re mi fa so la ti', sounds the most (one of the most) natural to our ears.
Interesting fact:
In fact, there exist musical scales containing 8, 9, or even 10 unique notes divided equally within an octave. Such scales sound kinda strange and eerie to listen to, but they are very cool. You can listen to such music for yourself by searching for "8-TET microtonal music" in YouTube which stands for "8 tone equal temperament". Likewise you can also search for 9 or 10-TET microtonal music by the same logic.
The Chromatic Scale:
Explanation:
In Western Music, we actually use 12 unique notes divided equally within an octave (i.e. 12-TET). Now you must be wondering why I previously said that the division of the octave into 7 notes "Do re mi fa so la ti" sounded the most natural when we actually use 12 notes in western music. The thing is that, the 7 notes "Do re mi fa so la ti" are actually derived from this bigger 12-note chromatic scale and in fact, in a song, we commonly use only 7 of those 12 notes at a time. Hence you can think of the "Do re mi fa so la ti"- scale as a 'sub-scale' of the bigger chromatic scale.
Know the Chromatic Scale on your keyboard:
Locate an octave in your piano keyboard (Preferably C-C octave). Now count the number of unique notes (both black and white keys) within that octave. If you counted correctly, you should get 12 notes in total. Those notes constitute the chromatic scale in your piano.
A Semitone:
A semitone is nothing but the distance or interval between 2 consecutive notes in a chromatic scale. Thus on your piano, a semitone is the distance between any note and just the adjacent higher note (can be both a black or a white key).
Intervals:
As previously discussed, an interval is the distance between two notes. Commonly used intervals are of the following types.
Perfect Unison: Interval of 0 semitones (The distance between 2 same notes with exactly the same pitch)
Minor 2nd (Half-step): Interval of a semitone
Major 2nd (Whole-step): Interval of 2 semitones
Minor 3rd: Interval of 3 semitones
Major 3rd; Interval of 4 semitones
Perfect 4th: Interval of 5 semitones
Diminished 5th (Tritone): Interval of 6 semitones
Perfect 5th: Interval of 7 semitones
Minor 6th: Interval of 8 semitones
Major 6th: Interval of 9 semitones
Minor 7th: Interval of 10 semitones
Major 7th: Interval of 11 semitones
Octave: Interval of 12 semitones
The Major Scale:
Intuitive idea:
Chances are that when you sing "Do re mi fa so la ti..." you are actually singing a major scale. As you can feel, the major scale sounds bright and happy. If you play all the white notes notes from C in your keyboard to the consecutive higher C, you would have played a C major scale.
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