Scale
Pitches arranged as a ladder — the step pattern decides the character
Related
A scale is a ladder of pitches ordered by height. What gives it character is not "which notes are used" but the distances between consecutive steps: the major scale runs whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half, the minor scale arranges them differently. The same seven notes in another order of steps sound like another music.
A scale is only material; it does not say which note is home — that is the job of mode and tonality. The usual mistake is to equate scale with mode: a scale says which notes exist and in what order; a mode says what they revolve around.
Read deeper → Scale
Sources
- 音阶作为有序音高集合的定义与大小调音阶结构，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Scale"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.