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Lesson 8: Major Scales
A scale is a series of notes that proceed up or down
by step. ('Step' means by tone
or by semitone).
A major scale proceeds by following a certain pattern of tones and
semitones. But we'll get to that in a moment. Make certain that you fully
understand the difference between tones and semitones. If you're still
a little rusty, go
back to Lesson 7. Understanding scales depends on your knowledge
of tones and semitones. Please note that when we say 'tone', we mean 'whole
tone'.
We'll go through the process of writing a major scale
step by step (no pun intended), and you'll see that writing scales is actually
a fairly simple process! I would recommend getting a piece of staff
paper and writing out the steps as you see them demonstrated here
for you. It will help you to clearly visualize the entire process. We are
going to write an F-major scale in the treble clef, ascending, using quarter
notes.
Writing an F-Major Scale in the
treble clef:
STEP 1:
Draw a treble
clef on a staff. Then place an 'F'
on the staff, the 'F' above middle 'C'.
STEP 2:
Write a note on each line and space, ascending for
one octave.
Remember, any note below the middle line 'B' should point its stem upward;
any note above the middle line 'B' should point its stem downward. The
'B' itself can go either way.
STEP 3:
You've now written a scale, but not necessarily
a major scale. Major scales follow a certain pattern of tones
and semitones.
Here
is that all-important pattern:
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Tone - Tone - Semitone - Tone - Tone - Tone
- Semitone
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A major scale is a series of 8 consecutive notes that use the following pattern of half and whole steps:
We now have to examine the intervals
between each and every note to see that they conform to this pattern. If
they don't, we can use accidentals (sharps and flats) to make them conform.
We start by looking at the first two notes, 'F' and
'G'. What is the distance between these two notes? It is a whole
tone. Therefore, the first interval in the pattern, 'Tone',
is correct, and we can go on.
Now let's look at the 2nd and 3rd notes, the 'G'
and 'A'. The distance between these two notes is a whole tone, so that
conforms to the second interval requirement, tone. On we go!
Our next notes to examine are the 3rd and 4th notes,
the 'A' and 'B'. This forms a whole tone. But our major-scale pattern says
that there should only be a semitone
between these two notes. No problem! We'll just lower the B to a B-flat,
and now it's a semitone.
Here's what we've got so far:
We show whole tones with a square bracket and semitones
with a slur (curve).
Just keep going, checking each interval between all
notes in the scale. You will find that in this scale, the B-flat is the
only accidental that we have to use. Here is the complete correct F-major
scale:
An F-major scale, as you can
see, has one flat. It is the only major scale that has one flat. All the
different major scales use their own set of accidentals. In the next lesson,
you'll learn how to make a proper key signature from the accidentals that
are used.
Make sure that you write your scale using the process
mentioned above. Start with one octave of notes, THEN make your adjustments
if necessary.
For practice, try writing an A-major scale in the
bass clef. Just go back to Step 1 and start on an 'A'.
If you are asked to write a scale in a descending
pattern, you simply reverse the order of the Tone - Semitone pattern.
Continue
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