Knowra Musical scale Musical scale A musical scale is an ordered set of pitches, usually spanning an octave, selected from the available pitch continuum. Its intervals and ordering shape melodies and harmonies.
Pitch : Pitch is the perceptual attribute that orders sounds from low to high. A scale orders pitches rather than merely listing sound frequencies.
Tonic (music) : The tonic is the central pitch or chord that gives a key or mode its sense of resolution. Scale notes gain a sense of stability or tension in relation to the tonic.
Major scale : The major scale is a seven-note scale with the interval pattern whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. It is a widely used scale pattern in Western tonal music.
Microtonality : Microtonality uses intervals smaller than the semitones of twelve-tone equal temperament or otherwise outside that system. It extends pitch choices beyond the familiar twelve-note scale framework.
Musical interval : A musical interval is the distance in pitch between two notes. The intervals between successive notes give a scale its distinctive pattern.
Key (music) : A musical key organizes pitches and chords around a tonal center, commonly using a major or minor scale. A scale supplies the characteristic pitches associated with a key.
Minor scale : The natural minor scale is a seven-note scale with the interval pattern whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole. Its pattern provides a familiar contrast to the major scale.
Twelve-tone technique : Twelve-tone technique organizes all twelve chromatic pitches into a series used to structure a composition. It avoids treating one scale or pitch as the work’s governing collection.
Octave : An octave is the interval between pitches whose frequencies stand in a 2:1 ratio. Many scales repeat their pitch pattern at octave boundaries.
Mode (music) : A mode is a system of pitch relationships defined by a scale pattern and a tonal center. Changing the scale’s interval pattern or center can produce a different mode.
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