What is the pentatonic scale
The scales are a fundamental principle of musicAfter all, it is made up of successions of notes that, when used creatively, express a feeling or an idea. A key point to be able to make music is the knowledge of the scales and, since there are several, we must learn to differentiate them and know when to use them. This time we will talk about one of them; in a PROFESSOR we will learn what is the pentatonic scale, one of many scales that you can use with versatility.
Index
- What is a musical scale
- Pentatonic scale: easy definition
- Minor pentatonic scale
What is a musical scale.
The word scalecomes from stairs and refers to a series of steps or steps that gradually ascend or descend. In music, those steps are musical notes. When we use notes of different pitch that rise or fall in an organized way and with determined distances between one and the other, we are forming a scale.
To be able to analyze a musical scale we need to understand a fundamental concept: the
musical intervalThe interval is the distance between one note and another. The measure we use to determine this is a musical unit that we call "tone". Finally, the other fundamental unit for measuring intervals is the "semitone" which is only half a tone.To better understand this concept you can see a piano, since it is very useful to be able to visualize the distances between the notes. If you look at the keys, you will notice that there are black and white. Know that there is a complete pitch between one note and another when there is a key in between. Another way of looking at it is that the distance between one key and another, regardless of color, is 1 semitone. For example, we can see that between Do and Re there is a black key, so its distance is 1 tone full.
Once you understand the concepts of tone and semitone, you can analyze and build different scales.
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Pentatonic scale: easy definition.
If you want to know what a pentatonic scale is, you should know that it is made up of two concepts: "penta" which means 5, and "tonic" which refers to tone. If we merge these concepts we obtain that the pentatonic scale means "5 tones". Precisely this scale is made up of 5 different notes and there are several that meet this requirement, however the most used are the major pentatonic scale and the minor pentatonic scale.
An essential feature of this scale is that has no semitones, like many of the other scales. If we played the C major pentatonic scale on the piano, the notes would be:
Do, Re, Mi, Sol, La and Do (to end in the eighth).
Somehow we could say that this scale avoids midtones, that is, we omit the intervals between Mi and Fa and between Si and Do. Another way to learn to form a pentatonic scale is by measuring the distances between one note and another. The distances for the major pentatonic scale are as follows: 1 tone - 1 tone - 1½ tones - 1 tone - 1½ tones.
The pentatonic scale is one of the simplest scalesThis does not mean that it contains less richness, but on the contrary, it is a very versatile scale that can be used on various harmonic occasions because it does not present conflicts of dissonance.
We relate the sonority of the pentatonic scale with the oriental and the reason is that many attribute its origin to the music of these cultures, as in ancient China. Still, the pentatonic scale is used in a lot of folk music, including Celtic music, West African music, Mediterranean areas like Greece, and many more. In classical music many composers liked the use of this scale, especially during Impressionism it is very easy to appreciate with musicians such as Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy.
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Minor pentatonic scale.
Like any other, a scale becomes a minor by decreasing the third and seventh notes by half a tone. (minor third and minor seventh). If we take the C major scale as an example, modify the third, the seventh and eliminate the semitone distances again, the pentatonic minor scale would be like this:
Do, My b, Fa, Sun, Bb, Do.
The distances would be the following: 1½ tones - 1 tone - 1 tone - 1½ tones - 1 tone.
The minor pentatonic scale is widely used for its sound in blues and jazz styles. Finally you should know that as in any other, scales can start on any note (not necessarily in C). To play the pentatonic scale in another key, all you have to do is start at a key and respect the distances that we mention between each of the notes.
Now that you know about the pentatonic scale, you have one more tool to create music and play with the endless possibilities it offers you. If you liked reading this article by a PROFESSOR and you have learned what the pentatonic scale is, we invite you to leave a comment and continue exploring the rest of the articles.
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