The Major Scale printable pdf download

music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w. rush

The Major Scale

one of the reasons that a particular piece of

music sounds the way it does has to do with the

3 œ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

group of notes the composer decided to use.

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

œ œ œ œ œ œ . ˙

& 4

take this melody, for example...

œ œ #

let’s first remove all the duplicate notes, regardless of which octave they’re in.

& 4 3 œ

œ œ œ

œ œ œ # œ œ œ œ

œ #

next, let’s put the notes

in alphabetical order,

starting on the note

that the melody sounded

like it was centering on.

œ œ

what we end up with

there are actually many

is the “palette” for

different types of scales,

this particular piece...

each with a different pattern

of whole steps and

half steps.

a half step is the

distance between

like the board on which a painter holds

two adjacent keys

the bits of paint being used in the painting

on the piano keyboard,

being created.

regardless of color.

in music, this “palette” is called

a scale. though we usually write

scales from low to high, the order is actually

unimportant; it’s the notes contained in the

scale that help make a piece sound

the way it does.

this particular

arrangement, where

œ œ

half steps occur between

steps three and four and between steps seven and eight

(or between seven and one, since eight and one are the

same note), is called the major scale.

a whole step is the

half

whole

step

whole

equivalent of

step

whole

step

half

two half steps.

step

whole

step

whole

step

(this scale, by the way, is called the

step

g major scale, because it starts on g.)

knowing this formula, you can create a major scale on any note!

œ œ œ

& œ b œ b œ œ b œ b œ b œ œ b

& œ œ œ œ b œ

the f major scale

the d flat major scale

but remember...

with

œ b œ œ b

great power

& œ b œ b œ b œ b œ b

œ # œ # œ

the b major scale

the g flat major scale

comes great

œ œ # œ # œ œ #

responsibility!

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The Major Scale

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