1. Let’s Talk Music

Understanding how music works and mastering music is a lifelong commitment.  When learning anything new, it is best to start with the basic terminology.  In this case, the terminology we will learn is how musicians describe and communicate music.  With this series you will get a breakdown of the basis for musical terminology (and without realizing it, some music theory too).  Understanding the terms and how to use them will open the door for a better understanding of how music works and to creating more expressive melodies.  

In this article we will look at the terms based on the major scale:

• Major Diatonic Scale

• Major Scale Structure

• Scale Intervals

What are the Fundamental Terms of Music?

Someone give me an A note!  A A A….  Somewhere along the way we learn about musical notes and that we can raise or lower the pitch and a melody is born (usually learn this as a toddler before we can walk).  As adults we have seen or learned the basic major scale at least do re me from Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music.  

We will start with the major scale as it is the basis for the terminology of scales, chords, and harmony.  This major scale comprises seven tones identified by the first seven letters of the alphabet:

A B C D E F G

Well hold on, there are 12 chromatic tones per octave in western music!  That is, seven tones A to G and five notes in between some of the letter notes.  These other notes are demarcated by a “♯” (sharp) or a “♭” (flat).  So the concept of musical intervals is born to help writing and communicating music we write.  

Each of the seven scale notes (scale degrees) are numbered.  In classical and formal music notation roman numerals are used (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII) and in other notation Arabic numerals are used as shown below.  

C D E F G A B

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The simplest way to discuss the major scale is by starting with the C major scale as an example because initially you can avoid ♯’s and ♭’s.  The piano is a great way to visualize the C major scale because it only uses the white keys.  The black keys are not part of the diatonic C major scale (diatonic meaning in the key). 

The scale is made up of a series of half steps (H)  and whole steps (W).  For example, from the Root note of C to the second note D is a whole step (or a full tone) with a C♯ as the halftone between.  So the major diatonic scale intervals are Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, and Half (see the diagram). 

So this same pattern is the basis for major scales rooted on any of the 12 musical tones.  For example, the diatonic key of G major scale is G A B C D E F♯ (see below), or diatonic D major scale is D E F♯ G A B C♯. 

We will close this article with a brief introduction of intervals and how they are named.  The interval names and understanding their relationships is the basis of building harmony and chords.  The table below presents the names of each chromatic scale tone within the diatonic major scale structure. In the next Let’s Talk Music series blog we will talk about different musical intervals for the major scale and introduce chords and harmony.

C Major Diatonic Scale