anding of those Naturally, any study of music inust begin with an under: ents simple clements which go tomake up music. ‘The first of these ele to be discussed is Pitch, which is designated by the location of ona musical stave. This is probably best explained by the accompany- ing illustration which shows the location of each note in the ‘treble? and “bass” clefs, Some definitions relating to pitch: SEMI-TONE.>. . . The smallest distance between two notes. WHOLE-TONE . . The equivalent of two semi-tones. INTERVAL .... The distance between two different pitches. Palin 7 DEGREE ...... Each note ina scale is called a degree of . 2 Scale. TETRACHORD .. A four-note scate consi ing intervals: ng of the follow- Whole-tone, whole tone, semi-tone plication we will make of pitch is to the ales. A scale may best be d d notes moving in a constantly asi i or descending direction, Fie ae moce| CaanSON f- = A. MAJOR SCALE CONSTRUCTION ‘The major scale is made up of seven different notes, one on cach suc~ cessive line and space of the stave and exch 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. Ce eet) a y 1 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) ‘To Whole tone, whole tone, semi-tone. (Tetrachord) ‘Whole tone. Whole tone, whole tone, semi-tone. -(Tetrachord) = a Le be bat ‘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: = rr == Note that the fourth degree of this scale must be called Db rather than Cif, since the third degree hadthe 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 receive 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 See =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 seen 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. op b a rer ee — = = ws ee ia Se i ae, meens| rouse rove rove \creve)|_rowe rove Brews 3 Ex 5 By using the upper tetrachordas the lower tetrachord in our new. scale, it is possible to arrive at all of the key signatures con— taining sharps. tore vepen, rerescnone oF «Le eOlodS RES CE. SF ——— e = ‘ ‘ z a ig / Ex. 6 In the previous example it is evident that the F must be sharped, since each tetrachord must be composed of whole tone, whole fone, half tone. By following the same procedure it is obvious that the next sharp key would begin with the tetrachord built on the note D, i.e., the upper tetrachord of the G seale. Page