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List of musical scales and modes Name Image Sound Degrees Intervals Integer notation # of pitch classes Lower tetrachord Upper tetrachord Use of key signature usual or unusual ; 15 equal temperament
In music theory, the key of a piece is the group of pitches, or scale, that forms the basis of a musical composition in Western classical music, art music, and pop music. Tonality (from "Tonic") or key: Music which uses the notes of a particular scale is said to be "in the key of" that scale or in the tonality of that scale.
Major scales beginning with white keys. The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at double its frequency so that it is called a higher octave of the same ...
In Western tonal music, the simplest and most common type of modulation (or changing keys) is to shift from one major key to another key built on the first key's fifth (or dominant) scale degree. In the key of C major, this would involve moving to the key of G major (which uses an F ♯). Composers also often modulate to other related keys.
[9] [10] The key note or tonic of a piece in a major key is a semitone above the last sharp in the signature. [11] For example, the key of D major has a key signature of F ♯ and C ♯, and the tonic (D) is a semitone above C ♯. Each scale starting on the fifth scale degree of the previous scale has one new sharp, added in the order shown. [10]
In modern music, the closeness of a relation between any two keys or sets of pitches may be determined by the number of tones they share in common, which allows one to consider modulations not occurring in standard major-minor tonality. For example, in music based on the pentatonic scale containing pitches C, D, E, G, and A, modulating a fifth ...
The hallmark that distinguishes major keys from minor is whether the third scale degree is major or minor. Major and minor keys are based on the corresponding scales, and the tonic triad of those keys consist of the corresponding chords; however, a major key can encompass minor chords based on other roots, and vice versa.
Its most common use may be described as a type of musical scale coupled with a set of characteristic melodic and harmonic behaviors. It is applied to major and minor keys as well as the seven diatonic modes (including the former as Ionian and Aeolian) which are defined by their starting note or tonic.