Music Notation and Terminology Part 6

7 whole 6 half 5 whole 4 whole 3 half 2 whole 1 step step step step step step

This form is used only to a very limited extent, and then princ.i.p.ally in vocal music, the harmonic form being in almost universal use in spite of the augmented second.

88. The minor scale in its various positions (up to five sharps and five flats) and in all three forms follows: a composition based on any one of these forms (or upon a mixture of them, which often occurs) is said to be _in the minor mode_. It will be noted that the first four tones are alike in all three forms; _i.e._, the lower tetrachord in the minor scale is invariable no matter, what may happen to the upper tetrachord.

The sign + marks the step-and-a-half.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Note._--The student is advised to recite the _harmonic form_ of the minor scale as was suggested in the case of the major scale, noting that the "raised seventh" does not affect the key-signature. _E.g._,--E--F[sharp]--G--A--B--C--D[sharp]--E; signature, one sharp, F.

89. A minor scale having the same signature as a major scale is said to be its _relative minor_. _E.g._,--e is the relative minor of G, c of E[flat], d of F, etc., the small letter being used to refer to the minor key or scale, while the capital letter indicates the major key or scale unless accompanied by the word _minor_. Relative keys are therefore defined as those having the same signature. G and e are relative keys, as are also A and f[sharp], etc.

90. A minor scale beginning with the same tone as a major scale is referred to as its _tonic minor_. Thus, _e.g._, c with three flats in its signature is the tonic minor of C with all degrees in natural condition; e with one sharp is the tonic minor of E with four sharps, etc. Tonic keys are therefore those having the same key-tone.

91. The eight tones of the diatonic scale (both major and minor) are often referred to by specific names, as follows:

1. _Tonic_--the tone. (This refers to the fact that the tonic is the princ.i.p.al tone, or generating tone of the key, _i.e._, it is _the_ tone.)

2. _Super-tonic_--above the tone.

3. _Mediant_--midway between tonic and dominant.

4. _Sub-dominant_--the under dominant. (This name does not refer to the position of the tone under the dominant but to the fact that the fifth below the tonic is also a dominant tone--the under dominant--just as the fifth above is the upper dominant).

5. _Dominant_--the governing tone. (From the Latin word _dominus_ meaning _master_.)

6. _Super-dominant_--above the dominant. Or _Sub-mediant_--midway between tonic and sub-dominant.

7. _Leading tone_--the tone which demands resolution to the tonic (one-half step above it).

8. _Octave_--the eighth tone.

92. The syllables commonly applied to the various major and minor scales in teaching sight-singing are as follows:[16]

[Footnote 16: These syllables are said to have been derived originally from the initial syllables of the "Hymn to Saint John," the music of which was a typical Gregorian chant. The application of these syllables to the scale tones will be made clear by reference to this hymn as given below. It will be observed that this hymn provided syllables only for the six tones of the _hexachord_ then recognized; when the octave scale was adopted (early in the sixteenth century) the initial letters of the last line (s and i) were combined into a syllable for the seventh tone.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Ut_ que-ant lax-is _Re_-so-na-re fi-bris _Mi_-ra ges-to-rum _Fa_-mu-li tu-o-rum _Sol_-ve pol-lu-ti _La_-bi-i re-a-tum Sanc-te Jo-han-nes.]]

Major--DO, RE, MI, FA, SOL, LA, TI, DO.

Minor[17]--original--LA, TI, DO, RE, MI, FA, SOL, LA.

harmonic--LA, TI, DO, RE, MI, FA, SI, LA.

melodic--LA, TI, DO, RE, MI, FI, SI, LA, SOL, FA, MI, RE, DO, TI, LA.

[Footnote 17: A considerable number of teachers (particularly those who did not learn to sing by syllable in childhood) object to calling the tonic of the minor scale _la_, insisting that both major and minor tonic should be called _do_. According to this plan the syllables used in singing the harmonic minor scale would be: DO, RE, ME, FA, SOL, LE, TI, DO.

There is no particular basis for this theory, for although all scales must of course begin with the key-tone or tonic, this tonic may be referred to by any syllable which will serve as a basis for an a.s.sociation process enabling one to feel the force of the tone as a closing point--a _home tone_. Thus in the Dorian mode the tonic would be RE, in the Phrygian, MI, etc.]

It is interesting to study the changes in both spelling and p.r.o.nunciation that have occurred (and are still occurring) in these syllables. The first one (ut) was changed to _DO_ as early as the sixteenth century because of the difficulty of producing a good singing tone on _ut_. For the same reason and also in order to avoid having two diatonic syllables with the same initial letter, the tonic-sol-fa system (invented in England about 1812 and systematized about 1850) changed SI to TI and this change has been almost universally adopted by teachers of sight-singing in this country. The more elaborate tonic-sol-fa spelling of the diatonic syllables (DOH, LAH, etc.), has not, however, been favorably received in this country and the tendency seems to be toward still further simplification rather than toward elaboration. It is probable that further changes in both spelling and p.r.o.nunciation will be made in the near future, one such change that seems especially desirable being some other syllable than RE for the second tone of the major scale, so that the present syllable may be reserved for "flat-two," thus providing a uniform vowel-sound for all intermediate tones of the descending chromatic scale, as is already the case in the ascending form.

93. The _chromatic scale_[18] is one which proceeds always by half-steps. Its intervals are therefore always equal no matter with what tone it begins. Since, however, we have (from the standpoint of the piano keyboard) five pairs of tones[19] which are enharmonically the same, it may readily be seen that the chromatic scale might be notated in all sorts of fas.h.i.+ons, and this is in fact the real status of the matter, there being no one method uniformly agreed upon by composers.

[Footnote 18: The student should differentiate between the so-called "tonality" scales like the major and minor, the tones of which are actually used as a basis for "key-feeling" with the familiar experience of coming home to the tonic after a melodic or harmonic excursion, and on the other hand the purely artificial and mechanical construction of the chromatic scale.]

[Footnote 19: Many other enharmonic notations are possible, altho the "five pairs of tones" above referred to are the most common. Thus E[sharp] and F are enharmonically the same, as are also C[flat] and B, C[sharp] and B[double-sharp], etc.]

Parry (Grove's Dictionary, article _chromatic_) recommends writing the scale with such accidentals as can occur in chromatic chords without changing the key in which the pa.s.sage occurs. Thus, taking C as a type, "the first accidental will be D[flat], as the upper note of the minor ninth on the tonic; the next will be E[flat], the minor third of the key; the next F[sharp], the major third of the super-tonic--all of which can occur without causing modulation--and the remaining two will be A[flat] and B[flat], the minor sixth and seventh of the key." According to this plan the chromatic scale beginning with C would be spelled--C, D[flat], D, E[flat], E, F, F[sharp], G, A[flat], A, B[flat], B, C--the form being the same both ascending and descending. This is of course written exclusively from a harmonic standpoint and the advantage of such a form is its definiteness.

94. For _sight-singing purposes_ the chromatic scale[20] is usually written by representing the intermediate tones in ascending by sharps, (in some cases naturals and double-sharps), and the intermediate tones in descending by flats (sometimes naturals and double-flats). The chromatic scale in nine different positions, written from this standpoint, follows, and the syllables most commonly applied in sight-singing have also been added. In the first two scales the student of harmony is asked to note that because of the very common practice of modulating to the dominant and sub-dominant keys, the intermediate tones [sharp]4 and [flat]7 are quite universally used in both ascending and descending melody pa.s.sages. In other words the scales that follow would more nearly represent actual usage if in each case [sharp]4 (FI) were subst.i.tuted for [flat]5 (SE) in the descending scale; and if [flat]7 (TE) were subst.i.tuted for [sharp]6 (LI) in the ascending form.

[Footnote 20: The word _chromatic_ means literally _colored_ and was first applied to the intermediate tones because by using them the singer could get smoother and more diversely-shaded progressions, _i.e._, could get more _color_ than by using only the diatonic tones. Composers were not long discovering the peculiar value of these additional tones and soon found that these same tones were exceedingly valuable also in modulating, hence the two uses of intermediate tones at the present time--first, to embellish a melody; second, to modulate to another key.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Note._--In writing chromatic scales from this sight-singing standpoint the student is urged to adopt a three-step process; first, writing the major diatonic scale both ascending and descending; second, marking the half-steps; third, inserting accidental notes calling for the intermediate tones. In the above chromatic scales these intermediate tones have been represented by black note-heads so as to differentiate them from the notes representing diatonic scale tones.

95. The _whole-step scale_ (the third type mentioned in Sec. 79) is, as its name implies, a scale in which the intervals between the tones consist in every instance of whole-steps. This reduces the number of tones in the scale to seven. Beginning with C the scale reads: C, D, E, F[sharp] or G[flat], A[flat], B[flat], C. This scale has been used somewhat extensively by the ultramodern French school of composition represented by Debussy, Ravel, and others, but is not making any progress toward universal adoption. The remarks of a recent English writer[21] on this subject may be interesting to the student who is puzzled by the apparent present-day tendencies of French music. He says:

"The student of some interesting modern developments will also speedily discover that the adoption of the so-called whole-tone scale as a basis of music is, except upon a keyed instrument tuned to the compromise of equal temperament, unnatural and impossible. No player upon a stringed instrument can play the scale of whole-tones and arrive at an octave which is in tune with the starting note, unless he deliberately changes one of the notes on the road and alters it while playing it. The obvious result of the application of the whole-tone scale to an orchestra or a string quartet would be to force them to adopt the equal temperament of the pianoforte, and play every interval except the octave out of tune. When this modification had taken hold all music in the pure scale would be distorted and destroyed, unless string players were to face the practically impossible drudgery of studying both the equal temperament and the pure scale from the start, and were able to tackle either form at a moment's notice. A thorough knowledge of the natural genesis of the scale of western nations will be the best antidote to fads founded upon ignorance of it. It is a curious commentary upon this question that Wagner, in the opening of the third act of _Tristan_ (bars 6 to 10), experimented with the whole-tone scale and drew his pen through it, as was to be expected from a composer whose every work proves the writer to have had the pure scale inbred in him."

[Footnote 21: Stanford--Musical Composition (1911) p. 17.]

There may be some difference of opinion among acousticians as to whether Mr. Stanford is correct in his scientific a.s.sumptions regarding the difference between "tempered" and "pure" scales,[22] but even so, there is a far more potent reason why the whole-step scale will probably never become popular as the major and minor scales now are, viz., the fact that it offers no possibility of _inculcating tonality feeling_, which has always been the basis of even the simplest primitive music. Tonality scales give rise to a feeling of alternate periods of contraction and relaxation--an active tone (or chord) followed by a pa.s.sive one, but no such effect is possible in the whole-step scale, and it seems suitable therefore only for that cla.s.s of music whose outlines are _purposely intended to be_ vague and indefinite--the impressionistic style of music writing.

[Footnote 22: Recent tests in Germany seem to prove conclusively that the _tempered_ scale is the scale ordinarily employed by both vocalists and players on stringed instruments, and that the ideal of and agitation for a _pure_ (_i.e._, _untempered_) scale in vocal and in string music is somewhat of a myth.]

CHAPTER IX

AUXILIARY WORDS AND ENDINGS

96. Being a list of articles, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and endings, often utilized in compounding terms relating to musical effects.

_A_--preposition--variously translated to, at, for, by, in, with, towards.

_A cappella_--in church style.

_A capriccio_--at the fancy of the performer.

_a deux mains_--for two hands.

_A mezza voce_--with half voice.

_a la_, or _alla_--in the manner of. _Alla marcia_--in the style of a march.

_a.s.sai_--very, or very much. _Allegro a.s.sai_--very fast.

_Ben_--well. _Ben marcato_--well marked.

_Coi, con, col, colla, colle, collo_--with, or with the.