Pentatonic scale
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale).
Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancient civilizations
Types
Hemitonic and anhemitonic
Musicology commonly classifies pentatonic scales as either hemitonic or anhemitonic. Hemitonic scales contain one or more semitones and anhemitonic scales do not contain semitones. (For example, in Japanese music the anhemitonic yo scale is contrasted with the hemitonic in scale.) Hemitonic pentatonic scales are also called "ditonic scales", because the largest interval in them is the ditone (e.g., in the scale C–E–F–G–B–C, the interval found between C–E and G–B).[7] (This should not be confused with the identical term also used by musicologists to describe a scale including only two notes.)
Major pentatonic scale
Anhemitonic pentatonic scales can be constructed in many ways. The major pentatonic scale may be thought of as a gapped or incomplete major scale, using scale tones 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the major scale.[1] One construction takes five consecutive pitches from the circle of fifths;[8] starting on C, these are C, G, D, A, and E. Rearranging the pitches to fit into one octave creates the major pentatonic scale: C, D, E, G, A.
Another construction works backward: It omits two pitches from a
Omitting the third and seventh degrees of the C major scale obtains the notes for another transpositionally equivalent anhemitonic pentatonic scale: F, G, A, C, D. Omitting the first and fourth degrees of the C major scale gives a third anhemitonic pentatonic scale: G, A, B, D, E.
The black keys on a piano keyboard comprise a G-flat (or equivalently, F-sharp) major pentatonic scale: G-flat, A-flat, B-flat, D-flat, and E-flat, which is exploited in
Minor pentatonic scale
Although various hemitonic pentatonic scales might be called minor, the term is most commonly applied to the relative minor pentatonic derived from the major pentatonic, using scale tones 1, ♭3, 4, 5, and ♭7 of the
The C minor pentatonic scale, the relative minor of the E-flat pentatonic scale, is C, E-flat, F, G, B-flat. The A minor pentatonic, the relative minor of C pentatonic, comprises the same tones as the C major pentatonic, starting on A, giving A, C, D, E, G. This minor pentatonic contains all three tones of an A minor triad.The standard tuning of a guitar uses the notes of an E minor pentatonic scale: E–A–D–G–B–E, contributing to its frequency in popular music.[10]
Japanese scale
Japanese mode is based on Phrygian mode, but use scale tones 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 instead of scale tones 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7.
Modes of the pentatonic scale
The pentatonic scale (containing notes C, D, E, G and A) has five modes, which are derived by treating a different note as the tonic:
Tonic | Name(s) | Chinese pentatonic scale | Indian pentatonic scale | On C | White key transpositions | Black key transposition | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C major pentatonic | F major pentatonic | G major pentatonic | F♯/G♭ major pentatonic | |||||
1 (C) | Major pentatonic | 宮 (gōng) mode | Hindustani – Bhoopali Carnatic – Mohanam Tamil - Mullaittīmpāṇi |
C–D–E–G–A–C | C–D–E–G–A–C | F–G–A–C–D–F | G–A–B–D–E–G | G♭–A♭–B♭–D♭–E♭–G♭ |
2 (D) | Suspended, Egyptian | 商 (shāng) mode | Hindustani – Megh Carnatic – Madhyamavati Tamil - Centurutti |
C–D–F–G–B♭–C | D–E–G–A–C–D | G–A–C–D–F–G | A–B–D–E–G–A | A♭–B♭–D♭–E♭–G♭–A♭ |
3 (E) | Blues minor, Man Gong (Guqin tunings) | 角 (jué) mode | Hindustani – Malkauns Carnatic – Hindolam Tamil - Intaḷam |
C–E♭–F–A♭–B♭–C | E–G–A–C–D–E | A–C–D–F–G–A | B–D–E–G–A–B | B♭–D♭–E♭–G♭–A♭–B♭ |
5 (G) | Blues major, ritsusenyo scale
, |
徵 (zhǐ) mode | Hindustani – Durga Carnatic – Shuddha Saveri Tamil - Koṉṟai |
C–D–F–G–A–C | G–A–C–D–E–G | C–D–F–G–A–C | D–E–G–A–B–D | D♭–E♭–G♭–A♭–B♭–D♭ |
6 (A) | Minor pentatonic | 羽 (yǔ) mode | Hindustani – Shuddha Dhanyasi Tamil - āmpal |
C–E♭–F–G–B♭–C | A–C–D–E–G–A | D–F–G–A–C–D | E–G–A–B–D–E | E♭–G♭–A♭–B♭–D♭–E♭ |
Ricker assigned the major pentatonic scale mode I while Gilchrist assigned it mode III.[11]
Relationship to diatonic modes
Each mode of the pentatonic scale (containing notes C, D, E, G and A) can be thought of as the five scale degrees shared by three different diatonic modes with the two remaining scale degrees removed:
Pentatonic scale |
Tonic note |
Based on modes (Diatonic scale) | Base scale degrees |
Modifications | Interval sequence |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Major | C |
|
I–II–III–V–VI | Omit 4 7 | W–W–3/2–W–3/2 |
Blues major | G |
|
I–II–IV–V–VI | Omit 3 7 | W–3/2–W–W–3/2 |
Suspended | D |
|
I–II–IV–V–VII | Omit 3 6 | W–3/2–W–3/2–W |
Minor | A |
|
I–III–IV–V–VII | Omit 2 6 | 3/2–W–W–3/2–W |
Blues minor | E |
|
I–III–IV–VI–VII | Omit 2 5 | 3/2–W–3/2–W–W |
Intervals from tonic
Each mode of the pentatonic scale (containing notes C, D, E, G and A) features different intervals of notes from the tonic according to the table below. Note the omission of the semitones above (m2) and below (M7) the tonic as well as the tritone (TT).
Pentatonic scale |
Tonic note |
Intervals with respect to the tonic | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
unison | second note |
third note |
fourth note |
fifth note |
octave | ||
Major | C | P1 | M2 | M3 | P5 | M6 | P8 |
Blues major | G | P4 | |||||
Suspended | D | m7 | |||||
Minor | A | m3 | |||||
Blues minor | E | m6 |
Tuning
Pythagorean tuning
Ben Johnston gives the following Pythagorean tuning for the minor pentatonic scale:[12]
Note | Solfege | A | C | D | E | G | A | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ratio | 1⁄1 | 32⁄27
|
4⁄3 | 3⁄2 | 16⁄9
|
2⁄1 | |||||||
Natural | 54 | 64 | 72 | 81 | 96 | 108 | |||||||
Audio | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 8 | |||||||
Step | Name | m3 | T | T | m3 | T | |||||||
Ratio | 32⁄27 | 9⁄8 | 9⁄8 | 32⁄27 | 9⁄8 |
Naturals in that table are not the alphabetic series A to G without sharps and flats: Naturals are reciprocals of terms in the Harmonic series (mathematics), which are in practice multiples of a fundamental frequency. This may be derived by proceeding with the principle that historically gives the Pythagorean diatonic and chromatic scales, stacking perfect fifths with 3:2 frequency proportions (C–G–D–A–E). Considering the anhemitonic scale as a subset of a just diatonic scale, it is tuned thus: 20:24:27:30:36 (A–C–D–E–G = 5⁄6–1⁄1–9⁄8–5⁄4–3⁄2).
Just intonation
Modes | Ratios (just) |
---|---|
Major | 24:27:30:36:40 |
Blues major | 24:27:32:36:40 |
Suspended | 24:27:32:36:42 |
Minor | 30:36:40:45:54 |
Blues minor | 15:18:20:24:27 |
(A minor seventh can be 7:4, 16:9, or 9:5; a major sixth can be 27:16 or 5:3. Both were chosen to minimize ratio parts.)
Other
Assigning precise frequency proportions to the pentatonic scales of most cultures is problematic as tuning may be variable.
For example, the slendro anhemitonic scale and its modes of Java and Bali are said to approach, very roughly, an equally-tempered five-note scale,[15] but their tunings vary dramatically from gamelan to gamelan.[16]
Composer
Use of pentatonic scales
Pentatonic scales occur in many musical traditions:
- Indian classical music, both Hindustani and Carnatic traditions
- Ancient Tamil music, see the Section "Evolution of panns".
- Peruvian Chicha cumbia
- Indigenous ethnic folk music of Assam
- Sudanese Music
- Celtic folk music[19]
- English folk music[20]
- German folk music[21]
- Nordic folk music[22]
- Hungarian folk music[23]
- Croatian folk music[23]
- Berber music[24]
- West African music[25]
- African-American spirituals[26]
- Gospel music[27]
- Bluegrass music[28]
- American folk music[29]
- Music of Ethiopia[25]
- Jazz[30]
- Blues[31]
- Rock music[32]
- Sami joik singing[33]
- Children's song[34]
- The music of ancient Greece[35][36]
- Epirus in northwest Greece[37]
- Music of southern Albania[38]
- Folk songs of peoples of the Middle Volga region (such as the Mari, the Chuvash and Tatars)[39]
- The tuning of the Ethiopian krar[25] and the Indonesian gamelan[40]
- Philippine kulintang[41]
- Native American music, especially in highland South America (the Quechua and Aymara),[42] as well as among the North American Indians of the Pacific Northwest[citation needed]
- Most Turkic,[43] Mongolic and Tungusic music of Siberia and the Asiatic steppe is written in the pentatonic scale[44]
- Melodies of Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Japan, and Vietnam (including the folk music of these countries)[44]
- Traditional Japanese court music
- Shōmyō chanting
- Andean music[45]
- Afro-Caribbean music[46]
- Polish highlanders from the Tatra Mountains[47]
In classical music
Examples of its use include:
Chopin's Etude in G-flat major, Op. 10, No. 5, the "Black Key" etude,[1] in the major pentatonic.
Western Impressionistic composers such as French composer Claude Debussy[48] and Maurice Ravel used the pentatonic scale extensively in their works.
Indian ragas
Indian classical music has hundreds of ragas, of which many are pentatonic. Examples include Raag Abhogi Kanada (C, D, E-flat, F, A),[50] Raag Bhupali (C, D, E, G, A),[51] Raag Bairagi (C, D-flat, F, G, B-flat),[52] Raag Chandrakauns (C, E-flat, F, A-flat, B),[53] Raag Dhani (C, E-flat, F, G, B-flat),[50] Raag Durga (C, D, F, G, A),[54] Raag Gunakari (C, D-flat, F, G, A-flat),[55] Raag Hamsadhwani (C, D, E, G, B),[56] Raag Hindol (C, E, F#, A, B),[57] Raag Kalavati (C, E, G, A, B-flat),[50] Raag Katyayani (C, D, E-flat, G, A-flat),[58] Raag Malkauns (C, E-flat, F, A-flat, B-flat),[59] Raag Megh (C, D, F, G, B-flat),[50] Raag Shivaranjani (C, D, E-flat, G, A),[60] Raag Shuddha Sarang (C, D, F#, G, B),[61] Raag Tilang (C, E, F, G, B),[62] Raag Vibhas (C, D-flat, E, G, A-flat),[63] Raag Vrindavani Sarang (C, D, F, G, B), and others.[64]
(For Tamil Music System, See here - Ancient Tamil music#Evolution of panns )
Further pentatonic musical traditions
The major pentatonic scale is the basic scale of the
shown below, which is the fourth mode of the major pentatonic scale.Javanese
In Javanese gamelan music, the slendro scale has five tones, of which four are emphasized in classical music. Another scale, pelog, has seven tones, and is generally played using one of three five-tone subsets known as pathet, in which certain notes are avoided while others are emphasized.[67]
Somali
Scottish
In
Andean
In
Jazz
Other
U.S. military cadences, or jodies, which keep soldiers in step while marching or running, also typically use pentatonic scales.[74]
The common pentatonic major and minor scales (C-D-E-G-A and C-E♭-F-G-B♭, respectively) are useful in modal composing, as both scales allow a melody to be modally ambiguous between their respective major (Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian) and minor (Aeolian, Phrygian, Dorian) modes (Locrian excluded). With either modal or non-modal writing, however, the harmonization of a pentatonic melody does not necessarily have to be derived from only the pentatonic pitches.[citation needed]
Most
regions.Role in education
The pentatonic scale plays a significant role in music education, particularly in Orff-based, Kodály-based, and Waldorf methodologies at the primary or elementary level.
The Orff system places a heavy emphasis on developing creativity through
Children begin improvising using only these bars, and over time, more bars are added at the teacher's discretion until the complete diatonic scale is being used. Orff believed that the use of the pentatonic scale at such a young age was appropriate to the development of each child, since the nature of the scale meant that it was impossible for the child to make any real harmonic mistakes.[77]
In Waldorf education, pentatonic music is considered to be appropriate for young children due to its simplicity and unselfconscious openness of expression. Pentatonic music centered on intervals of the fifth is often sung and played in early childhood; progressively smaller intervals are emphasized within primarily pentatonic as children progress through the early school years. At around nine years of age the music begins to center on first folk music using a six-tone scale, and then the modern diatonic scales, with the goal of reflecting the children's developmental progress in their musical experience. Pentatonic instruments used include lyres, pentatonic flutes, and tone bars; special instruments have been designed and built for the Waldorf curriculum.[78]
See also
References
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- ISBN 978-0-02-872612-0. p. 373.
- ^ Anon., "Ditonus", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001); Bence Szabolcsi, "Five-Tone Scales and Civilization", Acta Musicologica 15, nos. 1–4 (January–December 1943): pp. 24–34, citation on p. 25.
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- ISBN 978-0-7579-9447-0. p. 12.
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- (subscription required)
- JSTOR 832482. (subscription required) Accessed 4 January 2009.
- JSTOR 3052712.
- ISBN 0-19-588582-1.
- ^ Lindsay (1992), p. 38–39: "Slendro is made up of five equal, or relatively equal, intervals".
- ^ "... in general, no two gamelan sets will have exactly the same tuning, either in pitch or in interval structure. There are no Javanese standard forms of these two tuning systems." Lindsay (1992), pp. 39–41.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman 1999, p. 159.
- ^ Miller & Lieberman 1999, p. 161.
- ]
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- ^ Alwan For The Arts. Archived from the original on 2013-05-21. Retrieved 2021-01-23.[self-published source]
- ^ a b c Richard Henry (n.d.). Culture and the Pentatonic Scale: Exciting Information On Pentatonic Scales. n.p.: World Wide Jazz. p. 4.
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- ^ Joe Walker (6 January 2012). "The World's Most-Used Guitar Scale: A Minor Pentatonic". DeftDigits Guitar Lessons.
- ^ Kathryn Burke. "The Sami Yoik". Sami Culture.
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- ^ Meri-Sofia Lakopoulos (2015). The Traditional Iso-polyphonic song of Epirus [dead link]. The International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony. June 2015, issue 18. p. 10.
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- ^ Qian, Gong (19 June 1995). "A Common Denominator Music Links Ethnic Chinese with Hungarians". China Daily – via ProQuest.
- ^ a b Van Khe, Tran. "Is the Pentatonic Universal? A Few Reflections on Pentatonism." The World of Music 19, no. 1/2 (1977): 76–84. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43560446.
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- ^ ISBN 978-0-571-37076-4. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ Menon, R.R. (1973). Discovering Indian Music. Somaiya Publications. p. 50. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
Some prefer the first Raga to be pentatonic in scale. Let us take for an example, the pentatonic Bhoopali. Its notes are: SA RI GA PA DHA SA up and down the scale.
- ISBN 978-81-215-1090-5. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
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- ^ Thatte, A.; Sabanīsa, M. P. (2000). Vande Mataram, Down the Memory Lane. Jayanti Samaroha Samitee Vande Mataram. p. 77. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
Named after the powerful Hindu goddess, Raga Durga is pentatonic, omitting the third and the seventh degrees, while emphasising the sixth and the second.
- ISBN 978-0-88386-344-2. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-8403-1755-1. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ Nizami, F.; Arshad, S.; Lakhvīrā, N. Ḥ. (1988). ABC of Music. Punjab Council of the Arts. p. 54. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
- ^ "Katyayani". Krsna Kirtana Songs. 13 June 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
- ^ Thom Lipiczky (1985). "Tihai Formulas and the Fusion of 'Composition' and 'Improvisation' in North Indian Music". The Musical Quarterly. 71 (2): 157–171 (160).
They are set to one of the most widely performed ragas in North India, the pentatonic midnight raga Malkauns. The most important notes of Malkauns are Sa (the tonic) and Ma (the fourth). Both the gats and the tihais "cadence" on one of ...
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Ghulam Ali showed unusual fondness for pentatonic modes like Gunkali, Malkauns, Kausi Dhani and Bhopali. Even Shudh Sarang and Megh Malhar are largely pentatonic.
- ISBN 978-90-04-09715-5. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
- ^ Chib & Khan 2004, p. 39.
- ^ "Raagabase – A collection of Indian Classical Music Raags (Aka Ragas)".
- ^ Graue, Jerald. "Scale". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
- ^ Japanese Music, Cross-Cultural Communication: World Music, University of Wisconsin – Green Bay.
- ^ Sumarsam (1988) Introduction to Javanese Gamelan.
- ISBN 0-313-31333-4.
Somali music, a unique kind of music that might be mistaken at first for music from nearby countries such as Ethiopia, the Sudan, or even Arabia, can be recognized by its own tunes and styles.
- ISBN 0-932415-97-0.
Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan have significant similarities emanating not only from culture, religion, traditions, history and aspirations ... They appreciate similar foods and spices, beverages and sweets, fabrics and tapestry, lyrics and music, and jewelry and fragrances.
- ISBN 0-85976-440-0
- ISBN 0-85976-416-8
- ISBN 0-87338-370-2.
- ^ "The Pentatonic and Blues Scale". How To Play Blues Guitar. 2008-07-09. Archived from the original on 2008-07-14. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
- ^ "NROTC Cadences". Retrieved 2010-09-22.
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- ^ Amanda Long. "Involve Me: Using the Orff Approach within the Elementary Classroom". The Keep. Eastern Illinois University. p. 7. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
- ^ Andrea Intveen, Musical Instruments in Anthroposophical Music Therapy with Reference to Rudolf Steiner’s Model of the Threefold Human Being Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
Further reading
- Jeff Burns, Pentatonic Scales for the Jazz-Rock Keyboardist (Lebanon, Indiana: Houston Publishing, 1997). ISBN 978-0-7935-7679-1.
- Jeremy Day-O'Connell, Pentatonicism from the Eighteenth Century to Debussy (Rochester: University of Rochester Press 2007) – the first comprehensive account of the increasing use of the pentatonic scale in 19th-century Western art music, including a catalogue of over 400 musical examples.
- Trần Văn Khê, "Le pentatonique est-il universel? Quelques reflexions sur le pentatonisme", The World of Music 19, nos. 1–2:85–91 (1977). English translation: "Is the pentatonic universal? A few reflections on pentatonism" pp. 76–84. – via JSTOR (subscription required)
- Yamaguchi Masaya (New York: Charles Colin, 2002; New York: Masaya Music, Revised 2006). Pentatonicism in Jazz: Creative Aspects and Practice. ISBN 0-9676353-1-4
- JSTOR 835966(subscription required)
External links
- Power of pentatonic scale on YouTube, Bobby McFerrin