Naturally, any study of music saust begin with an undersianding nf those simple elements which go tomake up music. The first of these elements to be discussed is Pitch, which is designated by the location of a rote ona musical stave. This is probably best explained by the accompany- ing illustration which shows the location of each note in the “treble” ” chefs. and “be FEE DE cae era FABCRIEFEABEC Ext Some definitions relating to pitel SEMI-TONE.*. . . The smallest distance between two notes. WHOLE-TONE . . The equivalent of two semi-tones. INTERVAL .... The distance between two different pitches. .+ Each note ina scale is called a degr scale. e of - + A four-note scaie consisting of the follow- ing intervals: Whole-tone, whole tone, semi-tone t direct apnlication we will make of pitch struction of major scales, A scale may best be d 88 & Series of velated notes moving in a constantly asce! ing er descendi: direction. Saar Page? seu? KeFale anamnestic Ahn ON te MAIC SCALE CONSTRUCTION ‘The major scale is made up of seven different notes, one cn each suc~ cessive line and space of the stave and each having a different letter name. The eighth note, or octave, is added since this note gives a feeling of resolution and completion when the scale is played. Upon analyzing the intervals of the major scale built on C, you will find that the structure of the major scale is as follows: . (two tetrachords connected by a whole tone) Whole tone, whole tone, semi-tone, (Tetrachord) Whole tone. Whole tone, whole tone, semi-tone. (Tetrachord) ‘These intervals between the degrees of the major scale never vary, hence, major scales may be built on any note using the structure of the scale built on C as a guide. A major scale built on the root tone Ab would have the following appearance: Note that the fourth degree of this scale must be called Db rather than C#, since the third degree had the letter name C, and the definition of a major scale stipulates that each of the scale degrees must fall on the next successive line or space and reccive the next successive letter name. Just to be certain that the foregoing is perfectly clear, here is one more example of a major scale, this time built on the note E. Page 2) Although major scales may be constructed as described above, amore organized method for finding all of the major scales and key signatures is based on the application of the tetrachord. As may be scen in the following example, the major scale is di- visible into two equal parts, each part forming a tetrachord. These tetrachords are identical in construction and are con- nected by the interval of a whole tone. ° (o wa Pr ¥ weenes|_rowe row Breve \croves |_rone | ONE asthe oT oT Ex, 5 By using the upper tetrachordas the lower telrachord in our new scale, it is possible to arrive at all of the key signatures con~ taining sharps. tore vepen, rerescHone oF YS Cee brous Kev tét. SD Ex. 6 In the previous example it is evident that the F must be sharped, since each tetrachord must be composed of whoie tone, whole tone, half tone. By following the same procedure it is obvious that the next sharp key would begin with the tetrachord built on the nole D, i.e., the upper tetrachord of the G seale. - Page >