Scales are a form of technical exercise
They are made of 8 notes (1 octave) progressing in alphabetical order (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A)
There are 3 kinds of scales …
- Major scales – these are used for happy sounds
- Minor scales – these are used for sad sounds
- Chromatic scales – these use every single note ascending and descending using semitones
The Major Scale Pattern means that all major scales are built on the same pattern of tones and semitones.
This pattern is tone, tone semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone
The Minor Scale Pattern is used for all the sad sounding melodies. These are based on the following pattern: tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone and a half, semitone.
Hint: To remember the scale patterns:
- Beginning on Middle C, we can follow the Major Scale pattern, to work out the keys of the C Major scale
- In this scale, there are no sharps or flats, which mean there is nothing in the key signature
- A key signature is found in between the clef and the time signature
- Major (M) and minor (m) keys are related if they share a key signature (if they have the same black note in common)
- To find out what scales are related, count down 3 semitones from the major key to find the minor. For example, from C counting down 3 semitones (C-B, B- Bb, Bb-A).
- This means that C Major and A Minor will have will have the same black notes. (In this case, it means neither will have a black note)
- WAIT!! Did you notice that the minor scale has a tone and a half?
This means, that in every minor scale, we have to raise the 7th note. - This means that this raised 7th note is sometimes a black note that we have to play but it doesn’t get included in the key signature.
- For example, we know that A minor has no key signature (like C Major).
But, when we raise the 7th note, the scale will look like this: A, B, C, D, E, F, G#, A
Your Turn!
See if you can write out the letters you need to play C Major, G Major, D Major and A Major. Do you notice any pattern? The answers will be in the next article.
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