SOME SCALES THAT ARE SIMILAR TO THE CHROMATIC SCALE

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-214
Author(s):  
Will Turner
Keyword(s):  
Chromatic Scale

Melody

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Temperley
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Issue ◽  
Chromatic Scale ◽  
Hierarchical Grouping ◽  
Close Proximity

Like melody in general, rock melody is understood to have a hierarchical “grouping structure,” with sub-phrases combining into phrases and then into larger units. A fundamental issue in rock melody is the alignment of melodic groups with meter; while “beginning-accented” groups are the norm, “end-accented” patterns and more irregular patterns also occur. Patterns of repetition—pitch and rhythmic repetition, as well as rhyme—are also important aspects of rock melody. Rock melody sometimes shows independence from the underlying harmony, a phenomenon known as “melodic-harmonic divorce.” Of particular interest is the use of the 3 and flat-3 scale degrees, which are sometimes used in rock melodies in close proximity; related to this is the issue of “blue notes,” notes which fall between the cracks of conventional chromatic-scale categories.

Cents versus scale steps: Can we tell the difference between major and minor thirds?

2021 ◽  
pp. 030573562098727
Author(s):  
Pedro Neto ◽  
Patricia M Vanzella
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Perceptual Quality ◽  
Chromatic Scale ◽  
Major Scale ◽  
Accurate Performance ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Scale Step ◽  
Frequency Ratios ◽  
Tonal Context

We report an experiment in which participants ( N = 368) were asked to differentiate between major and minor thirds. These intervals could either be formed by diatonic tones from the C major scale (tonal condition) or by a subset of tones from the chromatic scale (atonal condition). We hypothesized that in the tonal condition intervals would be perceived as a function of scale step distances, which we defined as the number of diatonic leaps between two notes of a given music scale. In the atonal condition, we hypothesized that intervals would be perceived as a function of cents. If our hypotheses were supported, we should verify a less accurate performance in the tonal condition, where scale step distances are the same between major and minor thirds. The data corroborated our hypotheses, and we suggest that acoustic measurements of intervallic distances (i.e., frequency ratios and cents) are not optimal when it comes to describing the perceptual quality of intervals in a tonal context. Finally, our research points to the possibility that, in comparison with previous models, scale steps and cents might better capture the notion of global versus local instances of auditory processing.

Lutyens, Elisabeth (1906–1983)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Hawkes
Keyword(s):  
Arnold Schoenberg ◽  
Text Setting ◽  
Twelve Tone ◽  
Philosophical Text ◽  
Chromatic Scale ◽  
Dylan Thomas

(Agnes) Elisabeth Lutyens, CBE, was an English composer, credited with helping to establish the twelve-tone method of serialism in Britain. Lutyens’s first major composition using this technique, Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 7, was premiered in London on the first night of the blitz in 1940. Lutyens insisted she came upon this technique herself, and was not inspired by the work of Arnold Schoenberg, who is acknowledged as its pioneer. In the twelve-tone method the notes of the chromatic scale are ordered into a series that functions as a unifying principle for harmony, melody and variation—all twelve notes of the scale are sounded an equal number of times in a composition to ensure no emphasis on any one. Lutyens often coupled this specialized atonal technique with literary and philosophical text, setting to music writers such as Joyce, Wittgenstein, Beckett, and Dylan Thomas, to create a music both praised and critiqued as intellectualized.

György Kurtág's Microludes

Tempo ◽  
1984 ◽  
pp. 17-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret McLay
Keyword(s):  
Chromatic Scale

Kurtág's microludes are remarkable in at least two respects: firstly, some of them are so brief as to make even Webern seem verbose in comparison, and, secondly, Kurtág has managed to create something relatively rare—a form born of the chromatic scale itself The microludes are sets of 12 tiny preludes, one for each semitone. Each set moves from C to B by analogy to Bach's ‘48’; however, unlike the Bach pieces, the microludes are not essays in a particular tonality, but rather explore certain relationships to a particular individual pitch.

scholarly journals A Hardware-Oriented Algorithm for Real-Time Music Key Signature Recognition

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 8753
Author(s):  
Paulina Kania ◽  
Dariusz Kania ◽  
Tomasz Łukaszewicz
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Musical Instrument ◽  
Musical Instruments ◽  
Music Notation ◽  
The Real ◽  
Chromatic Scale ◽  
Preludes And Fugues ◽  
Signature Recognition ◽  
The Subject

The algorithm presented in this paper provides the means for the real-time recognition of the key signature associated with a given piece of music, based on the analysis of a very small number of initial notes. The algorithm can easily be implemented in electronic musical instruments, enabling real-time generation of musical notation. The essence of the solution proposed herein boils down to the analysis of a music signature, defined as a set of twelve vectors representing the particular pitch classes. These vectors are anchored in the center of the circle of fifths, pointing radially towards each of the twelve tones of the chromatic scale. Besides a thorough description of the algorithm, the authors also present a theoretical introduction to the subject matter. The results of the experiments performed on preludes and fugues by J.S. Bach, as well as the preludes, nocturnes, and etudes of F. Chopin, validating the usability of the method, are also presented and thoroughly discussed. Additionally, the paper includes a comparison of the efficacies obtained using the developed solution with the efficacies observed in the case of music notation generated by a musical instrument of a reputable brand, which clearly indicates the superiority of the proposed algorithm.

scholarly journals Tonal progression in Bartók's 'Etudes', Op. 18

New Sound ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 129-146
Author(s):  
Paolo Susanni
Keyword(s):  
Art Music ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
Expansion Process ◽  
Equal Interval ◽  
The Third ◽  
Chromatic Scale ◽  
Interval Cycles ◽  
Significant Step ◽  
Axes Of Symmetry

Bartók's mature musical language was born of both folk and art-music sources which influenced the composer in equal measure. The Three Studies for piano, Op. 18, represent a significant step in the evolution of the composers synthesis of the art-music source. All three etudes are based on equal-interval chains called interval cycles. Each of the three etudes represents a stage in the process of intervallic augmentation the composer named diatonic expansion. This concept, together with that of chromatic compression, is fundamental to all his mature works. The first etude expands the chromatic scale to two whole-tone scales. In the second etude the intervals are expanded to include the minor and major thirds as well as the perfect fourth, while in the third etude the tritone becomes the final step in the expansion process. The interactions of the ever-expanding interval cycles generate an array of diatonic, non-diatonic and abstract pitch collections. Parts of the opus rely on the concept of tonal progression based on axes of symmetry, which reached its perfection in later works such as the Out of Doors Suite and Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.

Serialism/Twelve-Tone Technique

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnold Whittall
Keyword(s):  
Musical Composition ◽  
Twelve Tone ◽  
Additional Requirement ◽  
Chromatic Scale ◽  
Musical Idea ◽  
Fixed Order ◽  
Interval Sequence

Serialism or the twelve-tone technique is a way of composing music that involves replacing major and minor scales with a fixed ordering of the pitches in the chromatic scale. This generates a structure that, in principle, remains in place throughout the composition in question. Prior to the modernist age, the idea that a musical composition should establish a fixed order of pitches, intervals, rhythmic values, and dynamic values would have seemed intolerably restrictive and mechanical. The additional requirement that a composition must maintain specific serial ordering throughout, either through literal repetition or by using any of the possible transpositions of the chosen series (thereby changing the pitch sequence while retaining the interval sequence) would have reinforced such negative conclusions and connotations. In earlier music, such fixed ordering applied only when motifs or themes were stated and literally repeated. Earlier music generally featured an interest more in the transformation and development of multiple, contrasting themes than in the reiteration of a single musical idea. Music preceding modernism made use of a major/minor key system based on a ‘‘common practice’’ of harmonic identities and functions. While distinct from a composition’s thematic material, this gave composers a comprehensive set of musical procedures from which to create coherent thematic processes.

Perceptual Dynamics of Circular Pitch

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Giangrand ◽  
B. Tuller ◽  
J. A. S. Kelso
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Models ◽  
Random Permutation ◽  
Frequency Difference ◽  
Frequency Change ◽  
Stimulus Space ◽  
Chromatic Scale ◽  
Pitch Pattern ◽  
Frequency Components ◽  
Pitch Movement ◽  
Circular Pitch

The convention of representing pitch and key relations within a geometric scheme has a long history. Such schemes often emphasize perceptual similarities or differences among tones or keys. In the present work, we focus on the dynamics of perception of pitch movement, within the framework of geometric models. In the first two experiments, perception of the pitch pattern of pairs of Shepard tones (R. N. Shepard, 1964) is examined in three different orderings: (1) random permutation of tone pairs, (2) sequential increases in the frequency components of the second tone of each pair, and (3) sequential decreases in the second tone's frequency components. Consistent with previous reports, when tone pairs are randomly permuted, the pitch pattern is equally likely to be judged as ascending or descending as the frequency difference between tones nears the half-octave. In the ordered conditions, the boundary between ascending and descending pitch is sensitive to the direction of frequency change such that hysteresis, or perceptual assimilation, is observed. In Experiment 3, we obtain pitch judgments of all two-tone permutations of Shepard tones of the chromatic scale, then map the judgments onto a toroidal stimulus space formed by the product of two pitch circles. Perceptual dynamics are explored by systematic excursions through the stimulus space. The results indicate that spatial models of pitch provide an incomplete description of the higher than/lower than pitch relationship in Shepard tones; also crucial is the path taken through the space defined by the stimuli.

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