Scales and Keys

The major scale is defined by one sequence of intervals - whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. Preserving that sequence is what forces key signatures to exist, and what makes the seven notes take seven different letters. Every claim here is checked against a staff example and a sound.

Tools used in this lesson: Scale Dictionary

There are three minor scales because what harmony demands and what a singable melody wants came into conflict. Starting from natural minor, this lesson follows the actual order of events - why the seventh degree had to be raised, and how the awkward interval that created was then engineered away.

Tools used in this lesson: Scale Dictionary

The seven modes arise from starting the white-key collection on different notes. Each one's character comes down to a difference of one or two notes against the major or minor scale, and the note that makes the difference is its characteristic tone. Everything here is compared over a single shared tonic.

Tools used in this lesson: Mode Dictionary

A pentatonic scale is a seven-note scale with two notes removed. Removing them eliminates every half-step clash, which is why almost nothing you play sounds wrong. This lesson covers why the structure arose independently worldwide, and why the blue note falls outside what functional harmony can explain.

Tools used in this lesson: Scale Dictionary / Scale Converter

Most traditional Japanese scales are pentatonic too, but they omit different notes, and that produces a completely different sound world from the Western pentatonic. This lesson compares the Yona-nuki, Ryukyu, and Miyako-bushi scales, and corrects a widespread misattribution along the way.

Tools used in this lesson: Scale Converter

Each note of a scale has its own name, and those names describe function rather than position. Movable-do solfège is the tool that ties those functions to the ear and the voice. This lesson also sorts out what fixed do is actually good for.

Tools used in this lesson: Scale Dictionary / Melody Note Guide

The twenty-four keys are not an unordered list. How close two keys are is a matter of how many notes they share, and the circle of fifths puts that closeness on a single diagram where relative, parallel, and dominant relationships can all be read off as positions.

Tools used in this lesson: Circle of Fifths / Key Finder