The Major Scale
Most melodies are derived from scales. A scale is a pattern of notes at different pitches, which can be repeated in higher or lower registers and sung or played on any melodic instrument. Apart from vocal melodies, most bass lines and lead solos are also made up of notes from scales.
A scale may start on any pitch and the name of the starting note of the scale determines the name of the scale. The most common building block for melodies is the major scale. The simplest of these is the C major scale, which starts and ends on the note C and contains all of the natural notes used in music.
A major scale is a group of eight notes that produces the familiar sound:
In the C major scale, these sounds are represented by the notes:
On the keyboard, the C major scale represents all the white notes, beginning and ending on C in any octave.
The following example demonstrates the C major scale sung by both female (treble staff) and male (bass staff) voices. Sing along with the one which best suits your voice range.
The first note and last note of a major scale always have the same name. In the C major scale the distance from the lowest C to the C note above it is one octave. This example is one octave of the C major scale. Each of the voices is also one octave apart.
The major scale is built up from a pattern of two types of intervals (distances between notes). These intervals are called the tone (indicated by T) and the semitone (indicated by S). A semitone is the smallest interval used in western music.
Notes which are a tone apart leave room for other notes between them. These in between notes are called sharps and flats which are discussed in the following lesson. The numbers under the letter names are scale degrees which indicate the position of each note in the scale.
On the keyboard, the distance between one key and the key directly next to it on either side is a semitone. Keys a semitone apart are usually one black and one white key, except for E to F and B to C which are semitones involving two white keys. Working out the distance of a whole tone is easy as it is simply two semitones. As you can see from the C major scale, all other white key notes apart from E to F and B to C are a whole tone apart.
