The chromatic scale is a sequence of sounds in semitones. The chromatic scale does not form an independent scale. It is based on major or minor scales. The chromatic scale is their complicated form. It is formed in the natural scales of major and minor by filling the major seconds with chromatic sounds.
The spelling rule for the chromatic scale is based on the relationship of tonalities.
In major, it is as follows: all the main steps of the scale remain unchanged, major seconds are filled in an upward movement by raising the I, II, IV and V steps and lowering the VII step instead of raising the VI step; during a downward movement, large seconds are filled with a decrease in the VII, VI, III and II stages and an increase in the IV stage instead of a decrease in the V stage.
The spelling of the chromatic scale in minor in an ascending direction corresponds to parallel major. It should be taken into account that the 1st step of the minor is the 6th step in the parallel major and, as a result, should not be raised; instead, the 2nd step is lowered. In a descending direction, the chromatic minor scale is written as the major scale of the same name.
Modulation is called the transition to a new key with the completion of the musical structure in it.
Deviation is called a change of tonality within a construction without fixing a new tonic.
Deviation and modulation are often carried out in related keys Related keys
All major and minor tonalities form groups of tonalities that are harmoniously related to each other.
Related are those tonalities whose tonic triads are at the levels of a given (original) tonality of the natural and harmonic types.
In a piece of music, the initial key is called the main key, and the keys that replace it in the process of music development are called secondary keys.
Each key has six related keys.
For example:
C major is related to the following keys:
C major on the 1st degree.
F major on the IV degree. This is the key of the subdominant -S (IV)
G major on the V degree. This is the dominant key -D(V).
A minor at the VI degree. This key is parallel to C major.
D minor on the 2nd degree. Parallel to F major, the subdominant key.
E minor at the 3rd degree. Parallel to G major, the dominant key.
In harmonic major, at the fourth degree there will be an F minor - a harmonic subdominant.
Thus, related tonalities are those tonalities whose triads are at the levels of the original tonality. Each key has 6 related keys.
For A minor
D minor (IV degree) – subdominant key
E minor (V degree) - dominant key
C major (III degree) - parallel to the main key
F major (VI degree) – parallel to the tonality of the subdominant
G major (VII degree) - parallel to the dominant key
E major (V degree in harmonic minor) - the key of the major dominant
A scale consisting of semitones in which each diezed note merges with the next flat note. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. CHROMATIC GAMMA in music, scale with sharps and flats,... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
Chromatic scale- A scale with a half-tone distance between steps, numbering 12 sounds within an octave. Considered as a major or minor scale with passing semitones. Hence the rules for its notation: all diatonic degrees are notated without any... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
CHROMATIC SCALE- in music, a scale that includes all 12 sounds included in the octave... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Chromatic scale- consists of 12 steps, separated by chromatic and diatonic semitones. X. scale can be ascending or descending and is used in all scales. The letter of this scale depends on the chromatic key signs of the scale, in which X.... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
chromatic scale- (music), a scale that includes all 12 sounds included in the octave. * * * CHROMATIC GAMMA CHROMATIC GAMMA, in music, a scale (see SOUND SCALE), including all 12 sounds included in the octave (see OCTAVE) ... encyclopedic Dictionary
CHROMATIC SCALE- scale from all twelve semitones of the tempered system. X. g. is notated very differently, depending on the structure in which it occurs, and on the harmony in the sense of which it is understood. If the diatonic scale is to be considered as... ... Riemann's Dictionary of Music
chromatic scale- a scale consisting only of semitones (12 in an octave) ... Russian index to the English-Russian dictionary of musical terminology
Chromatic scale- a sequence of sounds arranged in ascending or descending order, in which the distance between adjacent steps is equal to a semitone. The octave contains 12 sounds X. g. Not being a scale, it is independent. fret, X. g. is formed from scales ... ... Music Encyclopedia
GAMMA (in music)- GAMMA, in music, a scale (see SOUND SCALE) is the sequence of all the sounds of a scale (see FRAM), located from the main tone in ascending or descending order; has the volume of an octave, but can be continued into adjacent octaves. See also Chromatic scale... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
gamma- 1. GAMMA, s; and. [from Greek gamma] The name of the letter denoting the sound G in medieval music. 1. Consistent ascending or descending series of sounds (sound scale) within one or several octaves. Major, minor g. // Music image... encyclopedic Dictionary
Books
- , V.V. Zhakovich. This textbook is the second part of the book “Sight Reading for Beginning Pianists” and is intended for the second or third year of study. Some of the plays that are included in the collection are... Buy for 268 rubles
- Sight reading. Middle classes, Zhakovich V.. This textbook represents the second part of the anthology “Sight Reading for Beginning Pianists” and is intended for the second or third year of study. . . Some of the plays that are included in...
Hello, dear site visitors. We know which ones we can take for development, from what stages to build them, and so on. We also looked at ways to change harmony using features of octave modes (or varieties of major and minor scales). Let's remember a little about all this.
Harmony in the chosen key can be represented using chords built from any note of the scale of this key. The difference between these chords will only be in their belonging to one group or another: tonic, dominant or subdominant. We talked about this in detail in articles about. We can also use steps that differ from the harmonic or natural form in order to replace certain chords. It is for the purpose of making various substitutions, as well as changing the sound in one direction or another, that there is a concept that we discuss below in this article.
Ladovaya alteration- this is an increase or decrease in unstable steps for stronger gravity into stable ones. If we have chosen a certain key that we are going to work with, then we need to define it. In the process of developing a given tonality, only these stable steps remain unchanged for us, while the rest (unstable) give us scope for activity. The activity consists in the use of alteration, that is, lowering or raising unstable levels. There are some features of this process. Let's look at the example of C major, where the stable sounds are C, E, G (1st, 3rd, 5th).
In the figure, the stable steps, which have already been sounded, are highlighted in a circle, the unstable ones are signed with numbers, and the signs “+” and “-” show in which direction the unstable ones change (to the flat - a minus sign or to the sharp - a plus sign). With the help of arrows, we emphasized that altered sounds are drawn towards stable steps. It turns out that if we are in the key of C major, we can lower the second step by a semitone or raise it, and in the first case it gravitates towards the sound “do”, in the second to “mi”. The fourth degree rises and gravitates more towards G, the sixth decreases and gravitates towards the same note. Why exactly this way and not otherwise? It’s just that during alteration, an unstable step does not rise or fall to another unstable one. Therefore, the scheme is exactly like this. And here is a diagram for a minor scale:
The figure shows possible alterations in the key of A minor. In this case, the alterable unstable stages are already the second, fourth and seventh.
What we discussed above is again used in harmony, or for constructing melodic lines. You already know that tonality can be developed with the help of dominants and subdominants, while all chords of these groups are considered in the context of exactly one key (which is shown by the tonic). Consequently, a short arpeggio of the tonic primarily affects all components of the harmony. Three sounds in this case will be constant to maintain context, and the rest can be raised or lowered. The point is this. Let’s say our tonic is C major, the subdominant chord of the group is taken from the second degree of D minor, and the dominant is a G-seven chord (from the fifth degree):
The first chord - a major triad consists of notes that will not change (after all, this is the main sound of the sequence). The remaining two chords contain unstable degrees of the main key, and we will work with one of them using alterations. In D minor we lower the notes A and D, according to this diagram:
Then, using the same technique, we obtain an A-flat-seven chord from the same Dm, lowering the A note in it and raising the F note. The sound of our sequence changed noticeably as the D minor chord became a D flat major chord and then became an A flat seven. And then we move to the dominant G-seven and begin the circle again. Here is another way to diversify harmony, which is often used in jazz and other musical styles.
Chromatic scale and its spelling
There is another one, which is usually considered together with alteration. Chromatism is very often used for variety, and knowing the spelling of the chromatic scale can also be useful (for example, sometimes, when using chromatism, you don’t know how to write A-flat or G-sharp in notes, because they are the same note). Chromatism is a way of playing a chord using a sequence of notes separated only by semitones. This is how you can write down the chromatic sequence in C major in notes:
This is a variant of writing a major sequence from bottom to top. The 3rd and 6th degrees are circled in the picture - we circled them because they are not changeable in this case, that is, you cannot write E-flat or A-flat, they are only “pure”. If the major chromatic scale is written from top to bottom, then the first and fifth degrees will be unchanged:
If we have a minor chromatic scale, then when writing it both up and down, the first and fifth steps will be unchanged. The considered method of constructing a scale (chromatic) can be and is often used in constructing phrases (after all, for richness of sound it is important to combine different ones). Also, now you will know exactly how to write down the “chromatic parts” of your works in notes. By the way, for chromaticism to sound good, you need to understand that altered unstable steps must be used as passing ones and ultimately resolved into stable ones; they are like additional “paths” along which we can arrive at the main sounds of a key, reflecting its main tone.
The article is devoted to one of the musical theoretical topics - the chromatic scale. From the material you will learn what the chromatic scale is, how to build it correctly in the major and minor modes. The following tonalities were chosen as a visual example for construction: C major, D major and A minor. You will also learn interesting statements by famous music theorists about the chromatic scale.
chromatic?
This is a scale that consists of solid halftones. It can be either ascending or descending. It is by no means a separate modal system, despite the fact that it was formed as a result of filling absolutely all plexuses of major seconds with chromatic semitones. That is, the seven-step scales of both minor and major modes served as the basis. In the ascending chromatic scale, accidental signs that increase the sound are used: sharp, double-sharp, bekar (with flats in the key). In the descending chromatic scale, flats, double-flats, and bekars are used to lower the sound (with sharps in the key). If you do not highlight the mode-tonal fundamental principle with certain harmonic chords or do not emphasize the stable steps of the scale with metrorhythmic means, then determining by ear the tonality and mode of the performed chromatic scale is a completely impossible task. It is more realistic to identify its modal inclination and tonality visually. Since during its construction strict rules are observed.
Spelling the chromatic scale
When writing the chromatic scale, the following rules are taken into account:
Notation is carried out taking into account the supporting degrees of the diatonic minor or major. These steps never change. That is, to successfully and correctly construct a scale, you need to write stable steps of the chosen key without painting them over. For clarity, all chromatic sounds should be shaded.
. When the chromatic scale is built upward, the construction is carried out as follows: absolutely all diatonic steps, spaced from the subsequent ones by one (whole) tone, will be raised by a semitone. The exception is the sixth degree in a major mode and the first in a minor mode. They don't go up. But how then to obtain the chromatic scale? To do this, in major, you need to lower the seventh step by a semitone, and in minor, the second.
. When the chromatic scale is built downwards, you should know that absolutely all diatonic steps, spaced from the subsequent ones by one (whole) tone, will be lowered by a semitone. The exception is the fifth. As you may have guessed, it is not going down. Instead, the fourth stage is raised.
An interesting point is that the writing of the chromatic scale in minor when moving down completely coincides with the notation of the major of the same name (of course, with all the necessary key accidental signs).
Construction of the chromatic scale
To build a chromatic scale up and down in major and minor modes correctly, you need to remember the following rules:
When constructing a scale in the ascending movement of a major mode, the third and sixth degrees must be left without chromatic changes.
. When constructing a major scale in a downward movement, the first and fifth degrees must be left without chromatic changes.
. When constructing a scale in the ascending and descending movement of a minor mode, the first and fifth degrees should be preserved without chromatic changes.
Construction of chromatic scales in major
C major in an upward movement: do (c), do sharp (cis), re (d), re sharp (dis), mi (e), fa (f), fa sharp (fis), salt (g), salt sharp (gis), la (a), B flat (b), B becar (h), C (c).
In a downward movement: C (c), B (h), B flat (b), A (a), A flat (as), G (g), F sharp (fis), F (f), E (e), E flat (es), D (d), D flat (des), C (c).
Key with two signs - D major. Chromatic scale in an ascending motion in this key: D (d), D sharp (dis), E (e), E sharp (eis), F sharp (fis), G (g), G sharp (gis), A (a), A sharp (ais), si (h), do (c), do sharp (cis), re (d).
In a downward movement: D (d) - C sharp (cis) - C bekar (c) - B (h) - B flat (b) - A (a) - (gis) - G (g) - F sharp (fis) - F bekar (f) - E (e) - E flat (es) - D (d).
Using this model, adhering to the basic rules, you can construct any major scale.
Chromatic scale: minor. Construction
In an upward movement La Minor: a, b, h, c, cis, d, dis, e, f, fis, g, gis, a. In a downward movement: a, gis, g, fis, f, e, dis, d, cis, c, h, b, a.
If you adhere to the basic rules, then using this model you can build absolutely all scales of the minor mood.
Statements by famous theorists about the chromatic scale
Academician B. M. Teplov rightly noted in his studies that the chromatic scale is much more difficult to intonate with the voice than the diatonic scale. And indeed it is. Every musician will confirm this fact. The difficulty of its performance is explained by the fact that singing is realized thanks to a subtle sense of harmony. When the chromatic scale is vocally intoned, it is quite difficult to rely on the scale. Some people believe that if you focus not on the scale, but on the interval instinct, then singing such a scale purely will not be difficult. But this opinion is erroneous, since the support still lies precisely in the mode, and not in the intervals.
Yu. Tyulin supports the opinion of B. Teplov about modal feeling as an important basis when singing the chromatic scale. He believes that when a chromatic scale is intoned, the singer is guided not by the absolute value of m.2 (minor second) and b.2 (major second), but by the consonant intervals of the diatonic scale. So, for example, if you need to sing a chromatic scale from the note before up, then the reference sounds will be mi And salt. If you add up these sounds: do-mi-sol- then a tonic triad of tonality is formed C major. These same sounds are stable in this key. Yu. Tyulin, when expressing such thoughts, was based not on dry theory, but on experiments conducted. As “research material,” he chose four vocalists who confirmed the opinion put forward.
Thus, the chromatic scale consists of twelve sounds (not counting the repetition of the fundamental tone) and is not a separate modal system. It is built in all keys of major and minor mood. In order to learn how to build it, you need to know certain rules. The samples given in the article (keys C major, D major, A minor, E minor) will definitely help you in independently constructing various chromatic scales.
A scale consisting of semitones in which each diezed note merges with the next flat note. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. CHROMATIC GAMMA in music, scale with sharps and flats,... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
Chromatic scale- A scale with a half-tone distance between steps, numbering 12 sounds within an octave. Considered as a major or minor scale with passing semitones. Hence the rules for its notation: all diatonic degrees are notated without any... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
CHROMATIC SCALE- in music, a scale that includes all 12 sounds included in the octave... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Chromatic scale- consists of 12 steps, separated by chromatic and diatonic semitones. X. scale can be ascending or descending and is used in all scales. The letter of this scale depends on the chromatic key signs of the scale, in which X.... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
chromatic scale- (music), a scale that includes all 12 sounds included in the octave. * * * CHROMATIC GAMMA CHROMATIC GAMMA, in music, a scale (see SOUND SCALE), including all 12 sounds included in the octave (see OCTAVE) ... encyclopedic Dictionary
CHROMATIC SCALE- scale from all twelve semitones of the tempered system. X. g. is notated very differently, depending on the structure in which it occurs, and on the harmony in the sense of which it is understood. If the diatonic scale is to be considered as... ... Riemann's Dictionary of Music
chromatic scale- a scale consisting only of semitones (12 in an octave) ... Russian index to the English-Russian dictionary of musical terminology
Chromatic scale- a sequence of sounds arranged in ascending or descending order, in which the distance between adjacent steps is equal to a semitone. The octave contains 12 sounds X. g. Not being a scale, it is independent. fret, X. g. is formed from scales ... ... Music Encyclopedia
GAMMA (in music)- GAMMA, in music, a scale (see SOUND SCALE) is the sequence of all the sounds of a scale (see FRAM), located from the main tone in ascending or descending order; has the volume of an octave, but can be continued into adjacent octaves. See also Chromatic scale... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
gamma- 1. GAMMA, s; and. [from Greek gamma] The name of the letter denoting the sound G in medieval music. 1. Consistent ascending or descending series of sounds (sound scale) within one or several octaves. Major, minor g. // Music image... encyclopedic Dictionary
Books
- , V.V. Zhakovich. This textbook is the second part of the book “Sight Reading for Beginning Pianists” and is intended for the second or third year of study. Some of the plays that are included in the collection are... Buy for 268 rubles
- Sight reading. Middle classes, Zhakovich V.. This textbook represents the second part of the anthology “Sight Reading for Beginning Pianists” and is intended for the second or third year of study. . . Some of the plays that are included in...