Chromatic scale - Wikipedia
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Chromatic scale
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone above or below another.
On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the semitones have the same size (100
cents). In other words, the notes of an equal-tempered chromatic scale are equally spaced. An equaltempered chromatic scale is a nondiatonic scale having no tonic because of the symmetry of its equally
spaced notes.[1]
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Short musical piece that uses the
chromatic scale in the beginning
as well as in the distorted part at
0:35
Chromatic scale
Chromatic scale on C: full octave ascending and descending
Play in equal temperament or Play in Pythagorean
tuning
Qualities
Number of pitch classes
12
Maximal evenness
The most common conception of the chromatic scale before the 13th century was the
Pythagorean chromatic scale. Due to a different tuning technique, the twelve semitones in this
scale have two slightly different sizes. Thus, the scale is not perfectly symmetric. Many other
tuning systems, developed in the ensuing centuries, share a similar asymmetry. Equally spaced pitches
are provided only by equal temperament tuning systems, which are widely used in contemporary music.
Degenerate well-formed collection
The term chromatic derives from the Greek word chroma, meaning color. Chromatic notes are
traditionally understood as harmonically inessential embellishments, shadings, or inflections of diatonic
notes.
Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Notation
Non-Western cultures
Total chromatic
Tuning
See also
Sources
External links
Recommended Reading
Chromatic scale drawn as a
circle: each note is equidistant
from its neighbors, separated by a
semitone of the same size
Notation
The chromatic scale may be notated in a variety of ways.
Ascending and descending:[1]
The chromatic scale has no set spelling agreed upon by all. Its spelling is, however, often dependent upon major or minor key signatures
and whether the scale is ascending or descending. The images above, therefore, are only examples of chromatic scale notations. As an
abstract theoretical entity (that is, outside a particular musical context), the chromatic scale is usually notated such that no scale degree is
used more than twice in succession (for instance G flat - G natural - G sharp).
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Non-Western cultures
The ancient Chinese chromatic scale is called Sh-r-l. However, "it should not be imagined that this gamut ever functioned as a
scale, and it is erroneous to refer to the 'Chinese chromatic scale', as some Western writers have done. The series of twelve notes
known as the twelve l were simply a series of fundamental notes from which scales could be constructed."[2]
The Indian solfge, i.e. sargam, makes up the twelve notes of the chromatic scale with respective sharps and flats.
Total chromatic
The total chromatic (or aggregate[3]) is the set of all twelve pitch classes. An array is a succession of aggregates.[3] See also: Tone row.
Tuning
In 5-limit just intonation the chromatic scale, Ptolemy's intense chromatic scale, is as follows, with flats higher than their enharmonic
sharps, and new notes between E/F and B/C:
C
E E E/F F
A A
B/C C
1 25/24 16/15 9/8 75/64 6/5 5/4 32/25 4/3 25/18 36/25 3/2 25/16 8/5 5/3 125/72 9/5 15/8 48/25 2
9/8 and 10/9, 6/5 and 32/27, 5/4 and 81/64, 4/3 and 27/20, and many other pairs are interchangeable, as 81/80 (syntonic comma) is
tempered out. These are 19-EDO just intonation approximations.
In Pythagorean tuning (3-limit just intonation) the chromatic scale is tuned as follows, with sharps higher than their enharmonic flats:
C
1 256/243 2187/2048 9/8 32/27 8192/6561 81/64 4/3 1024/729 729/512 3/2 128/81 6561/4096 27/16 16/9 4096/2187 243/128 2
These are 17-EDO Pythagorean tuning approximations.
See also
Chromaticism
Atonality
Twelve-tone technique
20th century music - Classical
"All Through the Night (Cole Porter song)"
"Hicaz Hmyun Saz Semisi" - Turkish song, highlighting differences from the twelve-semitone scale
Sources
1. Benward & Saker (2003). Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I, p.47. Seventh Edition. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0.
2. Needham, Joseph (1962/2004). Science and Civilization in China, Vol. IV: Physics and Physical Technology, p.170-171. ISBN 978-0-521-05802-5.
3. Whittall, Arnold. 2008. The Cambridge Introduction to Serialism, p.271. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-68200-8 (pbk).
External links
The Chromatic Scale arranged for guitar in several fingerings. (Formatted for easy printing)
(http://robsilverguitars.blogspot.com/2010/05/chromatic-scales-for-guitar.html)
The 12 golden notes of music (http://www.skytopia.com/project/scale.html)
Wikiquote has
quotations related to:
Chromatic scale
Recommended Reading
Hewitt, Michael. 2013. Musical Scales of the World. The Note Tree. ISBN 978-0957547001.
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Categories: Chromaticism Musical scales Musical genera Post-tonal music theory Musical symmetry
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