Composition Flashcards
(31 cards)
What is Equal Temperament”?
The octave is divided into 12 equal steps, or pitches:
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B
The distance between each successive pitch is exactly the same.
What is a chromatic scale?
A 12 note scale, as it uses every pitch within an octave.
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C
It has an ambiguous character, as it has no tonal centre (each note is a semitone away from each other). Consequently, each note is given equal importance.
Major Scale Formula
What is the Major Scale’s Pattern?
C D E F G A B C
T-T-S-T-T-T-S
The major scale has a very strong tonal centre, due to the combination of tones and semitones. It gives the feeling that some of the notes want to move to other notes. Sort of like a magnet.
Why is the major scale so important?
It’s the parent scale of the diatonic system. It’s the foundation of the European musical tradition.
What is a relative minor scale?
It’s a scale that uses the same notes of a major scale, but in a different order (or more correctly, starting on a different note).
What’s the easiest way of finding a Major Scale’s Relative Minor?
To find a relative minor scale, go down 3 semitones from the major scale’s tonic.
(A, Bb, B, C)
Natural Minor Scale Formula
What is the Natural Minor Scale’s Pattern?
A B C D E F G A
T-S-T-T-S-T-T
What is the Tonic note?
It’s the note that all the other notes in the scale are built upon.
What makes a “good” melody?
- Have a nice combination of steps and leaps.
- Create a balance between repetition and variation.
- Be careful of too much movement without enough repetition. Too much variation and confuse the listener.
- It should have contour or shape and take the listener on a journey.
What is special to note about Perfect Intervals?
They are neither Major nor Minor, as they appear in both scales.
When inverted, the intervals remain perfect. e.g.
C-F = Perfect 4th. F-C = Perfect 5th
C-G = Perfect 5th. G-C = Perfect 4th.
They sound very consonant.
Perfect intervals = Unison, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Octave.
Major Pentatonic Scale Formula
C D E G A C
T-T-m3-T-m3
A 5 note scale.
What is special to note about the Major Pentatonic Scale?
Leaving out the 4th and 7th notes, gives this scale its character.
It sounds more consonant and open sounding with a lack of tension because of a lack of dissonance between any of the intervals.
There are less dissonant intervals in the scale:
1) The semitone (minor 2nd) intervals are removed e.g. E-F (m2) and B-C (m2) become E-G (m3) and A-C (m3).
2) The tritone (6 semitones, 3 tones) has also been removed: F-B (tritone) becomes F-A (M3)/F-C (P5).
Minor Pentatonic Scale Formula
A C D E G A
m3-T-T-m3-T
A 5 note scale.
What is special to note about the Minor Pentatonic Scale?
Compared to the Major Pentatonic, it has a more serious and dark quality about it.
Blues Scale Formula
The blues scale is like the Minor Pentatonic scale, but has 6 notes - a flattened 5th:
A C D Eb E G A
m3-T-S-S-T-m3
What is special to note about the Blues Scale?
One of the most useful and widely heard scales in rock and blues.
It’s based in the minor pentatonic but with a flattened 5th as an additional note.
The b5 acts as the blue note. It makes the minor pentatonic sound more bluesy.
It’s well suited to the guitar due to all the stylistic inflections it can perform (hammer ons & pull offs etc.)
Whole Tone Scale Formula
C D E F# G# Bb C
T-T-T- T-T-T
It’s a symmetrical scale.
What is special to note about the Whole Tone Scale?
It has an ambiguous character, as it has no tonal centre (each note is a tone away from each other). Consequently, each note is given equal importance.
Often used in film scoring, jazz and 20th C classical music.
Sounds quite dreamy and also devilish due to having so many tritones (three tritones) e.g. C-F#, D-G#, E-A#.
Octatonic Scale Formula
Half-Whole Diminished Scale
C Db Eb E Gb G A Bb C
S-T-S-T-S-T-S-T
Has a pattern of repeated intervals.
A symmetrical scale.
Sounds exotic and mysterious, as it contains both a lot of consonant and dissonant intervals (m2, M2, m3, M3, P4, P5, Tritones (A4/D5), m7, M7.
Augmented Scale Formula
C Eb E G G# B C
m3-S-m3-S-m3-S
A symmetrical scale that uses a repeated m3-S pattern.
Used over augmented chords. Common on Jazz and Classical.
Harmonic Minor Scale Formula
A B C D E F G# A
T-S-T-T-S-m3-S
It is a natural minor scale with a raised 7th.
Sounds middle eastern, reminiscent of Arabic and Turkish music.
The harmonic minor scale serves as the foundation of minor mode music. The raised 7th creates a leading tone back to the root, which indicates strong harmonic movement.
Composers of classical music often found that the m3 interval contained in the scale too disruptive for smooth melodic writing. So they created a melodic minor scale…
Melodic Minor Scale Formula
The scale is different ascending than descending.
Ascending Melodic Minor scale:
A B C D E F# G# A
T-S-T-T-T-T-S
Descending Minor scale - the same as the natural minor scale.
It is a natural minor scale with a raised 6th and raised 7th.
It’s now closer to a major scale, but with a flattened 3rd.
The melodic minor scale removes the m3 interval contained within the harmonic minor scale. This makes the scale smoother, more suitable for melodic writing.
The Modes
Modes are not transposing a scale, they are a change in the scale’s interval structure. To do this we change the scale’s tonic, whilst still playing the same notes of the scale.
CDEFGABC
DEFGABCD - starts in the second degree.
T-S-T-T-T-S-T
List the Modes
- Ionian (same as major scale)
- Dorian
- Phrygian
- Lydian
- Mixolydian
- Aeolian (same as the natural minor scale)
- Locrian
