.

---

Compiling global examples of music in the Neapolitan Major Scale

---

1-b2-b3-4-5-6-7

(C-D^b-E^b-F-G-A-B-C)

o o • o • o • o • o • o o

• Neapolitan Major: Sounds •

Real-world examples of the scale in action:

---

• General: 

---

• India: Performed in South India as Raga Kokilapriya (mela #11) – with the title translating literally as ‘one that is dear to the koel’, a cuckoo-like bird which is in turn named for its distinctive cry (‘ko-el, ko-el‘). The scale finds occasional use in North India too – typically borrowed under the Kokilapriya title, but also independently devised by composer Mahesh Mahadev as ‘Bhimsen‘.

---

—T (origin)—

Artist (inst)

---

Q

---

• Neapolitan Major: More •

Features, classifiers, quirks, etc…

---

[analysis: coming soon]

---

—Classifiers & Quirks—

• Modes: (none in index)
• Quirks: Cohemitonic; Fragmented; Palindromic; Reflectional sym. (imperfect: b2, b3, ♮5, ♮6, ♮7; detached: b2, b3, ♮6, ♮7)
• Names: Neapolitan Major, Ionian b2 b3, ‘Offset Whole-Tone’ (Western); Kokilapriya (Carnatic) [n.b. despite the ‘Major’ in its name, the Neapolitan Major does not contain a 1-3-5 major triad: instead, the title is a reference to the role of its upper 4-5-6-1 tetrachord – which contains only major tones – in ‘Neapolitan cadences‘]

---

n.b. For more detailed geometric and mathematical analysis, refer to this scale’s entry in Ian Ring’s fantastic Exciting Universe of Music Theory project (for which I am an occasional ‘raga consultant’)

---