Keys and Scales

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Keys and Scales
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Major Scales

• Have 8 notes, starting and ending on the same
  note (in a different octave). Each of these notes
  have a name. E.g in C major

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Major Scales Continued

• Major scales sound HAPPY! ?
• The pattern for any major scale is
• I tone- II tone- III semitone- IV tone- V
  tone- VI tone- VII semitone- VIII
• So in C major
• C tone- D tone- E semitone- F tone- G tone-
  A tone- B semitone- C
• And in G major
• G tone- A tone- B semitone- C tone- D tone-
  E tone- F semitone- G
• The set of notes in a scale is called a key

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Major Scales Continued

• A key signature is shown at the start of a piece
  of music to tell you what key its in. They look
  like this
• Key signatures have sharps or flats, but not
  both.

G major
F major
D major
C major
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Minor Scales

• Minor scales sound SAD ?
• There are 3 types of minor scales
• The Natural Minor uses the same notes as the
  relative major, just starting on its own key
  note. So, in A minor (where the relative major is
  C major)
• A tone- B semitone- C tone- D tone- E
  semitone- F tone- G tone- A

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Minor Scales Continued

• The Harmonic Minor sharpens the 7th note
• A tone- B semitone- C tone- D tone- E
  semitone- F 3 SEMITONES- G tone- A

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Minor Scales Continued

• The Melodic Minor sharpens the 6th and 7th notes
  on the way up, but plays the same as the Natural
  Minor when it descends
• A tone- B semitone- C tone- D tone- E tone-
  F tone- G tone- A (ASCENDING)
• A tone- G tone- F semitone- e tone- D tone-
  C semitone- B tone- A (DESCENDING)

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The Circle of Fifths
The relative minors are in the centre circle and
work in the same way. Their key signatures are
the same as the major key they are related to.
There are 12 major keys, all are on the circle of
fifths.
Each new key uses the sharps/flats of the key
before it, plus one more, in this way, all the
keys are linked.
The circle starts with C major, which has no
sharps or flats.
Next comes G major, because G is ONE FIFTH above
C, which has one sharp (F)
Next, D major with 2 sharps, then A major with 3
and so on
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Modes

• Modes use different patterns to create a scale.
  The simplest way in which a mode is formed is to
  pick a white note and play all the white notes
  upward for an octave. For example, DEFGABCD.
• This particular mode is called Dorian mode and
  has the pattern tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone,
  semitone, tone.
• Using this pattern, you can then play Dorian mode
  starting on any note of the keyboard.

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Pentatonic Scales

• Pentatonic Scales use just FIVE notes the major
  pentatonic uses the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th
  degrees of the major scales.
• So, C major pentatonic is C, D, E, G, A
• An easy way to play a major pentatonic scale is
  to use only the black notes of a keyboard.
• The minor pentatonic uses the 1st 3rd 4th 5th and
  7th degrees of the natural minor scale.
• So C minor pentatonic is C, Eb, F, G, Bb

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Whole Tone and Chromatic Scales

• Whole tone scales have 7 notes and use steps of a
  tone the whole way. If you play them up and down
  quickly, they sound sort of like the Sound FX
  used in movies when a magic wand is waved!
• C-tone-D-tone-E-tone-F-tone-G-tone-A-tone-C
• Chromatic Scales use every white and black note
  until youre an octave above the note you started
  from. This means they use 13 notes and every step
  is a semitone.
• C - C - D - D - E F G - G - A - A - B - C

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Intervals

• An interval is the gap between 2 notes.
• A melodic interval is where the notes are played
  one after the other.
• A harmonic interval is where the notes are played
  at the same time.
• Intervals have a number and a description of the
  type of interval.

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Intervals continued

• You get the number by counting the up from the
  bottom to the top notes, including these notes
  themselves. So C-E, for example, is a 3rd because
  it covers the notes C, D and E. An 8th interval
  is called an octave (e.g. C-C).
• The description tells you how the interval
  sounds. This is a little more complicated to
  figure out

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Intervals Continued

• If the top note of the interval is in the major
  scale of the bottom note, it is either a perfect
  or a major interval. In C major
• The intervals described as perfect are the ones
  that sound the best.

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Intervals Continued

• If the interval is one semitone LESS than a MAJOR
  interval, it is a MINOR interval
• If the interval is one semitone LESS than a MINOR
  or a PERFECT interval, then it is a DIMINISHED
  interval
• If the interval is one semitone MORE than a MAJOR
  or a PERFECT interval, then it is an AUGMENTED
  interval
• The TRITONE is an interval of three tones and
  sounds dissonant. It used to be called the
  devils interval. Diminshed 5ths and Augmented
  4ths are both tritones.