- Hi.
As I'm sure most people are aware,
we use scales as the basis
for a lot of our music,
and so much of our music, certainly in
the western tradition
between, say, 1600 and 1900,
is written either in a major
scale or in a minor scale.
In other words, we're using
the notes of a major scale
or of a minor scale to
construct our chords,
to write our melodies, and to
put all our music together.
But there are other kinds of scales around
and you may want to explore these
and have a bit of fun with them.
We've another quick tips film out there
on the pentatonic scale that
you could have a look at.
And today, I'm just going
to spend a few moments
talking about the whole tone scale.
Now, as I'm sure you know,
scales are a bit of a mixture
of tones and semitones.
So when we play a major scale,
if I play a C major scale,
that's a very familiar sound, isn't it?
But actually, it's a mixture
of tones and semitones.
So from C to D,
there's a tone.
A tone being two semitones,
and a semitone being
the shortest distance we
can travel on the keyboard.
So C to C-sharp's a semitone,
C-sharp to D is a semitone,
so C to D is a tone.
So C major scale goes tone,
then there's another tone,
and then there's a semitone,
because there's no black
note between E and F.
Then there's a tone, then there's a tone,
then there's a tone, then
there's a semitone to finish.
So any major scale follows that pattern.
Tone, tone, semitone,
tone, tone, tone, semitone.
And we've really got used to that sound
and that particular mixture
of tones and semitones.
So if I play a piece of music in C major,
I'm using the notes of that scale,
I'm using chords built on
the notes of that scale,
and I'm using that particular combination
of tones and semitones.
And that's a kind of sound
we can all relate to.
If I'm in a minor scale, the
reason it's minor really is
because I've got a different combination
of tones and semitones.
We won't get too bogged
down on this today,
but there are two kinds of minor scale,
the harmonic and the melodic minor scale.
But in the harmonic minor scale,
which could go like this,
here's A harmonic minor.
What I've got here is tone, semitone,
tone, tone, semitone,
a tone and a half, and
then a semitone at the top.
So that's a different combination
of tones and semitones
that makes a piece work in a minor key
instead of in a major key.
So here's a little piece in a minor key.
So, you may be able to
hear the sound of that
in a minor key, but it's
really happening because
of that combination of
tones and semitones.
Well, how about a scale
that only uses tones?
That's what a whole
tone scale is all about.
And some of you may have
just happened to have played
one of these things if perhaps
you're doing grade eight
on certain instruments.
You might have to play a whole tone scale.
But this is how it might go.
So, if I start a whole tone scale on C,
what I'm doing is going up in tones.
So a tone above C is D, here's C,
there's D, that's a tone.
A tone above D is E.
A tone above E is not a
F but actually, F-sharp.
So, that's my next note in the scale.
So, therefore, a tone above
F-sharp is going to be
G-sharp.
And then a tone above G-sharp
is going to be A-sharp.
And a tone above A-sharp
is going to be, well it could be C,
or it could be B-sharp
if you wanted it to be.
But there's a whole tone scale.
And that may seem very strange,
you might listen to that and think well,
it doesn't sound like any scale I know.
Because so much music is in
major scales and minor scales.
But here's the whole tone scale.
And of course, you could call this G-flat,
A-flat, B-flat, that will
be perfectly in order.
So, you can deal with it either way.
But it gives you a new possibility.
So if you're a composer
wanting to do something
that's a little bit out
of the major minor box,
you might think about if you can compose
a piece based on a whole tone scale.
And of course, you don't
have to start on C,
you can start on C-sharp
and go C-sharp,
D-sharp, E-sharp, and
so on and give yourself
a whole tone scale
starting somewhere else.
But some composers have made
a bit of a virtue of this,
Debussy for example, he
likes the whole tone scales.
Other composers due in
the 20th and 21st century
have made quite a deal of this as well.
And it can be kind of quite atmospheric,
if you do things like this.
Very atmospheric kind of piece,
could even work well in a
film score, for example.
So, lots of things you could
do with a whole tone scale,
and I hope you're going to
kind of experiment with it
and see what goes on.
Try playing one of those
things on your instrument
and just see if you can
explore some of the sounds
that might go with it
and have a bit of fun
working with a whole tone scale.
