Scale (music)
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
When we make tunes we use notes of different pitches: some high and some low. When we have a row of notes which gradually go up or come down this is called a scale.
On a piano there are white notes and black notes. If we start on the note C and play each white note going up until we come to the next C we have played a scale. There were eight notes (C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C) It was a major scale.
Click below to listen to a C major scale.
Sometimes the major scale is sung to the words "doh, ray, me, fa, soh, la, te, doh". In the film Sound of Music Maria teaches the children to sing by teaching them a song called "Doe, a deer, a female deer". Each line starts on the next note of the scale.
You can start a major scale on any note. There are twelve possible starting notes (C, C#, D, Eflat, E, F, F#, G, Aflat, A, Bflat, B). However, the distances between the notes must be the same as they were for the scale on C. For example: from C to D was a tone because there was a note between (C#). From E to F is a half-tone (British English: semitone) as there was no note in between.
A minor scale sounds rather sad. The pattern of tones and semitones is different. There are harmonic and melodic minor scales.
You can also have chromatic scales (all semitones) and whole-tone scales (all tones).
Practising scales is important for people who play instruments or sing. It helps your fingers to be strong and energetic (or warms up the singer's voice). It also helps you get used to lots of fingering patterns which will help when you play your pieces.
See also: octave
