Pentatonic Scales!
Heidi
Johnson
Laura
Simpson
Basic Terminology
Interval: The distance between two pitches.
The smallest is the half step.
Half Steps/Semitone: In music, natural half steps
occur, such as the interval between
E to F and B to C. (Remember! There is no E# or B#!) Other half steps intervals
are noted using # (sharp (up a half step in tone)) and the b (flat (down a half
step in tone)).
Whole Steps: The product of two half steps. E.g. E to
F# or A to B.
A Scale: A traditional scale starts from
the first note or the tonic and
ascends to the octave or the note
six whole steps above the tonic.
Major Scale: A Major Scale follows the interval pattern of
The
pattern of Whole step, Whole step,
Half step, is repeated, with a
whole step
W W H
- W – W W H connecting
the two halves.
Minor Scale: A Minor Scale follows the interval pattern of:
Whole step Half
step Whole step –Whole step – Whole step Half step Whole step.
Like the Major Scale the two repeating patterns
are joined by a Whole step interval.
Now that you understand the basics,
let’s learn about Pentatonic Scales!
Pentatonic Scale: A scale of five different tones, each separated by a Whole step or a whole step and a half step,
which is one and a half steps or a
minor third. (Notation m3)
In your
average pentatonic scale, there are
no half steps, and the fourth and
seventh interval are both omitted! (Very
different from a Major and Minor Scale!) This scale is also without the
seven different tones that most scales would possess, and instead there are
only five tones. (Excluding the octave
of course)
Instead
of the patterns that were present in the Major and Minor scales, the Major and Minor Pentatonic scales have different intervals.
Major Pentatonic Scale
W W m3
W m3
Minor Pentatonic Scale
m3 W W m3
W
Special Pentatonic Scales!
Now is
where things get a bit tricky. The rules that we established for Pentatonic
Scales get slightly bent or just broken for these special cases.
Pentatonic
scales with diminished intervals.
6th
W W m3
H m3
2nd
H m3 m3 W
m3
3rd
W H
M3 W m3
5th
W W W m3 m3
Of the
four scales, the diminished fifth pentatonic scale was the closest to the Major
and Minor scale in interval composition. The other three had Half steps in the interval
between the note before and the diminished note. The diminished third had a
Half Step before the diminished note and a Major third after.
More
Scales that you can apply to a pentatonic scale.
Mixolydian Pentatonic
W W m3
m3 W
Mixolydian scales typically have a diminished seventh and usually has half steps
between the fourth and fourth and the sixth and seventh. (You will notice that there is no fourth or
sixth present in this scale and surprisingly a seventh)
Phrygian
Pentatonic
H
W m3
H m3
Phrygian
scales usually have a diminished second and half steps between the tonic and
the second, and the fifth and the sixth. This is much more noticeable that the Mixolydian because the scale had to be changed more for the
Mixolydian Pentatonic.
Diminished
Pentatonic
W
H m3 H m3
This
Diminished scale has a diminished third and fifth.
Whole
Tone Pentatonic
W
W W W m3
Although
this scale is a whole tone scale, it is not entirely made of whole steps.
Applications for Pentatonic
Scales:
The sound
that comes from a pentatonic scale gives a distinctly non-Western sound and is
used mostly for the composition of Eastern and Western folk songs and more
recently in Jazz improvisation.
Now that
you know the intervals for several pentatonic scales, you can compose your own
music, using the intervals and the key signatures below for Major and Minor Keys.
Major: See image at left. (Note: Cb is a B)