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Each mode of the pentatonic scale (containing notes C, D, E, G and A) features different intervals of notes from the tonic according to the table below. Note the omission of the semitones above (m2) and below (M7) the tonic as well as the tritone (TT). The intervals used in the pentatonic scale compared to the diatonic scale.
Melodies can be based on a diatonic scale and maintain its tonal characteristics but contain many accidentals, up to all twelve tones of the chromatic scale, such as the opening of Henry Purcell's "Thy Hand, Belinda" from Dido and Aeneas (1689) with figured bass), which features eleven of twelve pitches while chromatically descending by half steps, [1] the missing pitch being sung later.
Some scales use a different number of pitches. A common scale in Eastern music is the pentatonic scale, which consists of five notes that span an octave. For example, in the Chinese culture, the pentatonic scale is usually used for folk music and consists of C, D, E, G and A, commonly known as gong, shang, jue, chi and yu. [14] [15]
Modern musical keyboards are designed so that the white-key notes form a diatonic scale, though transpositions of this diatonic scale require one or more black keys. A diatonic scale can be also described as two tetrachords separated by a whole tone. In musical set theory, Allen Forte classifies diatonic scales as set form 7–35.
One heptatonic, or seven-note, conception of the blues scale is as a diatonic scale (a major scale) with lowered third, fifth, and seventh degrees, [9] which is equivalent to the dorian ♭ 5 scale, the second mode of the harmonic major scale. Blues practice is derived from the "conjunction of 'African scales' and the diatonic western scales". [10]
Here, the first chord—stretching two octaves from D 2 to D 4 —is a diatonic (so-called white-note) cluster, indicated by the natural sign below the staff. The second is a pentatonic (so-called black-note) cluster, indicated by the flat sign; a sharp sign would be required if the notes showing the limit of the cluster were spelled as sharps.
Other scales with a minor third and a perfect fifth (i.e. containing a minor triad) are also commonly referred to as minor scales. Within the diatonic modes of the major scale, in addition to the Aeolian mode (which is the natural minor scale), the Dorian mode and the Phrygian mode also fall under this definition.
The Pythagorean scale is any scale which can be constructed from only pure perfect fifths (3:2) and octaves (2:1). [5] In Greek music it was used to tune tetrachords, which were composed into scales spanning an octave. [6] A distinction can be made between extended Pythagorean tuning and a 12-tone Pythagorean temperament.