{"id":13337,"date":"2016-04-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hearandplay.com\/main\/?p=13337"},"modified":"2024-10-08T04:20:43","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T12:20:43","slug":"these-are-traditional-scales-learn-how-to-play-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hearplaymain.wpenginepowered.com\/these-are-traditional-scales-learn-how-to-play-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn How to Play Traditional Scales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, we’ll be doing a study on traditional scales.<\/p>\n

Traditional scales are fundamental in playing music,\u00a0the same way alphabets are important in written or spoken language.<\/p>\n

Let’s get into this study by reviewing scales.<\/p>\n

Review On Scales<\/h2>\n

Playing notes in a regular succession can form a scale. According to Jermaine Griggs (2016) “A scale is a succession of notes [played or heard] in ascending or descending order [that are related by a fixed intervallic formula.]” <\/em><\/p>\n

If we play all the white notes on the keyboard in alphabetical sequence from C to C…<\/p>\n

C:
\n
\n…to D:
\n
\n…to E:
\n
\n…to F:
\n
\n…to G:
\n
\n…to A:
\n
\n…to B:
\n
\n…and back to C:
\n
\n…this would produce the natural major scale<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here’s a simpler definition of scales that you can easily memorize:<\/p>\n

A scale is a ladder of notes in ascending or descending direction.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The above definition is influenced by\u00a0scala<\/em> (the root word for scale in Latin), which means ladder or staircase<\/em>. Therefore, consider scales the same way you’ll consider a ladder or staircase, that helps you ascend or descend,\u00a0step-wise<\/em><\/strong> or skip-wise<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Attention:<\/strong> Not everyone climbs the staircase step by step, all the time right? There are situations when you’re in a hurry and you just have to skip a step or two. The same thing is obtainable in the musical scale. There are scales that involve step-wise ascents and descents, and there are also scales that involve skip-wise ascents and descents.<\/p>\n

Traditional Scales<\/h2>\n

Prior to the use of scales, there were modes<\/a> – an ancient scale system that was replaced by major and minor scales. The major and minor scales are structured to be the underlying scales of the two tonalities<\/a> – the major key and the minor key.<\/p>\n

These scales having been in existence for a long time, gained general acceptance and become traditional<\/em> in music. Traditional scales are scales that have been associated with the process of learning and making music for several centuries.<\/p>\n

Here are the traditional scales…<\/p>\n

The natural major scale<\/a><\/p>\n

The natural minor scale<\/p>\n

The harmonic minor scale<\/p>\n

The melodic minor scale<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Most of the melodies and melodic patterns heard in European and American music are from these traditional scales [most of the time.] What about chords and harmonic structures? Yeah! These scales are also the backbone of melodic and harmonic<\/a> materials that are commonly used in classical music, jazz, gospel, etc.<\/p>\n

In the 19th century, when African-Americans were emancipated, their music featured West-African rhythms [predominantly], however, the melodic and harmonic elements were derived from these long-established scales. Jazz music is a typical example, which is a product of irregular accents in rhythm (aka -“syncopation”) featuring melodies and chords that are improvised. The tonal basis for the improvisation are derived from traditional scales<\/strong> [and modes.]<\/p>\n

Here are a few things you need to note about traditional scales.<\/p>\n

They are western<\/p>\n

They are heptatonic<\/p>\n

They are diatonic<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let’s quickly highlight these traditional scales.<\/p>\n

The Natural Major Scale<\/h3>\n

This is the traditional scale of the major key. If a piece of music is played in the key of C major, it means that the melodic and harmonic source of that piece of music is from the C natural major scale.<\/p>\n

The natural major scale that is usually considered the easiest to play on the piano, is the C natural major scale:
\n
\n…which is simply called the C major scale (the natural is often omitted) because its basically a collection of all white notes on the piano:
\n
\n…from C to C:
\n
\nThe major scale is the source of chords and harmonies. The following chords can be derived from the natural major scale as scale degree chords…<\/p>\n