The Major 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 natural (white) notes, beginning and ending on C in any octave.
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.
Here is one octave of the C major scale, sung by both female (treble staff) and male (bass staff) voices. Sing along with the one that best suits your voice range. 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 tones (indicated by T) and semitones (indicated by ST). A semitone is the smallest interval (distance between two notes) used in western music. Notes which are a tone apart leave room for other notes between them. These in between notes are the sharps and flats, represented by the black notes on a piano.
On the keyboard, the distance between one key and the key directly next to it on either side is a semitone. Semitones involve one black and one white key, except for E to F and B to C which are semitones involving two white keys. As you can see from the scale and the keyboard, all notes apart from E to F and B to C are a whole tone (two semitones) apart.
