The frequency of the notes in a given scale is usually related by
a simple mathematical law. Scales in traditional Western European
music are eight notes starting on one given note and working their
way up to the first octave of the starting note, journeying through
whole and half steps.
Pentatonic Scale
Pentatonic scales are scales formed of five notes (from
the Greek pente: five). In the 5th-6th centuries BC, Pythagoras
discovered numerical ratios corresponding to intervals of
the musical scale. He associated these ratios with what he
called “harmony of the spheres.”
These scales have been used very much in the folk music
of various countries, including the music of China, American
Indians and ancient Scotland. More recently, Western composers
such as Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel have used pentatonic
scales in their music.
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Baroque (Diatonic) Scale
Western harmony from the Renaissance up until the late 19th
century was based upon the diatonic scale and the unique
relationships created by this system of organizing seven
notes. It can be considered the fundamental building block
of the Western musical system. Most longer pieces of music
change key, but this leads to a hierarchal relationship of
diatonic scales in one key with those in another.
The syllables for each scale degree are “Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti-Do.”
Baroque composers included Bach, Handel and Vivaldi.
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Classical Scale
Music written in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Vienna
was characterized by its periodic structure. It was composed
of five tones and two semitones, such as the Pythagorean
diatonic or the familiar 12-tone version.
Chief composers of the period were Haydn, Mozart and early
Beethoven.
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Blues Scale
The Blues scale is a uniquely American invention developed
in the early 20th Century.
It is made up of a minor pentatonic scale — with an added note.
That added note is sometimes referred to as a “blue note.” That
particular note creates a musical tension that is a common sound in the
Blues.
Early Blues musician Jelly Roll Morton helped to create that new note
by “crushing” an E together with an E flat when he played
in New Orleans brothels. The sound was considered too crass for the cultured
ears of the day. Earlier, the more mainstream Scott Joplin, by playing
those notes right next to each other, merely hinted at the new sound,
making Ragtime music accessible to more mainstream audiences.
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