28/12/2018
Building the Major Scale!!!!!
A movement up two blocks is called a whole step. A movement up just one block is called a half step. We can see that this C major scale is formed by starting on the root of the scale, C, and then moving through the chromatic scale notes: whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step. This pattern is so fundamental that it will be the basis of all other musical concepts that we study. Learn to play the scale, name the notes, and memorize the formula of steps needed to create this scale.
The C major scale, and this pattern for constructing scales, must both be accepted without question in order to study music. As you are beginning your study of how music works, now is not the time to ask, “but why C major? Why this pattern?” Since this pattern is used to comprehend all musical concepts to come, it must be taken for granted just as the sky is blue.
C major is not the only major scale there is. If we choose any note, such as E, and repeat this sequence of whole and half steps, we will have a new scale: the E Major scale. The notes will change. We must have sharps and flats: C major is the only major scale with no sharps or flats.
E
F
F♯
G
G♯
A
A♯
B
C
C♯
D
D♯
E
When we take one example of music, whether just a few notes, or an entire scale, or even a whole song, and move all of the notes up or down by an equal amount, the notes will all have the same relationship that they had before, but the song will sound higher or lower than before. This change is called transposing a song.