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Compiling the real-world sounds of different musical scales: ranging from the famous to the abstruse, and spanning diverse global traditions. Expand your aural horizons with fresh sequences!

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[under construction]

—Music in Scales: Overview—

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—Major Modes—

Major (1-2-3-4-5-6-7)
Dorian (1-2-b3-4-5-6-b7)
Phrygian (1-b2-b3-4-5-b6-b7)
Lydian (1-2-3-#4-5-6-7)
Mixolydian (1-2-3-4-5-6-b7)
Aeolian (1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7)
Locrian (1-b2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7)

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—Pentatonic Modes—

Major Pentatonic (1-2-3-5-6)
Suspended Pentatonic (1-2-4-5-b7)
Phrygian Pentatonic (1-b3-4-b6-b7)
Scottish Pentatonic (1-2-4-5-6)
Minor Pentatonic (1-b3-4-5-b7)

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—Melodic Minor Modes—

Melodic Minor (1-2-b3-4-5-6-7)
Dorian b2 (1-b2-b3-4-5-6-b7)
Lydian Augmented (1-2-3-#4-#5-6-7)
Lydian Dominant (1-2-3-#4-5-6-b7)
Mixolydian b6 (1-2-3-4-5-b6-b7)
Aeolian b5 (1-2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7)
Superlocrian (1-b2-b3-b4-b5-b6-b7)

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—Harmonic Minor Modes—

Harmonic Minor (1-2-b3-4-5-b6-7)
Locrian ♮6 (1-b2-b3-4-b5-6-b7)
Ionian Augmented (1-2-3-4-#5-6-7)
Dorian #4 (1-2-b3-#4-5-6-b7)
Phrygian Dominant (1-b2-3-4-5-b6-b7)
Lydian #2 (1-#2-3-#4-5-6-7)
Superlocrian Dim. (1-b2-b3-b4-b5-b6-bb7)

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—Other Scales—

Boogie Woogie (1-3-5-6-b7)
Insen/Bairagi (1-b2-4-5-b7)
In/Miyakobushi (1-b2-4-5-b6)

Blues Minor (1-b3-4-b5-5-b7)
Minor Hexatonic (1-2-b3-4-5-b7)
Whole-Tone (1-2-3-#4-b6-b7)

Double Harmonic (1-b2-3-4-5-b6-7)
Enigmatic (1-b2-3-#4-#5-#6-7)
Harmonic Major (1-2-3-4-5-b6-7)
Hungarian Minor (1-2-b3-#4-5-b6-7)
Neapolitan Major (1-b2-b3-4-5-6-7)
Neapolitan Minor (1-b2-b3-4-5-b6-7)

—Major Modes—

Major | Dorian | Phrygian | Lydian | Mixolydian | Aeolian | Locrian

—Major / Ionian—

1-2-3-4-5-6-7

 

—Dorian—

1-2-b3-4-5-6-b7

 

—Phrygian—

1-b2-b3-4-5-b6-b7

 

—Lydian—

1-2-3-#4-5-6-7

 

—Mixolydian—

1-2-3-4-5-6-b7

 

—Aeolian / Natural Minor—

1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7

 

—Locrian—

1-b2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7

• Tones: C-Db-Eb-F-Gb-Ab-Bb (Ian Ring)
• Quirks: Hemitonic; Maximal; Reflectional sym. (imperfect: root; detached: none)
• Names: Locrian (Western); Meladalan (Hindustani), Lami (Maqam), Hypophrygian (archaic)

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• General: While some claim that the Locrian is almost never used in its ‘pure’ form (rather than as fleeting tonal colour elsewhere), a fair scattering of such instances can be identified. Examples hail from disparate genres: including modern trad-folk (accordionist John Kirkpatrick’s Dust to Dust), D’n’B (the outro of Mampi Swift’s Jaws VIP Mix), and experimental pop (Bjork’s Army of Me: although the root is somewhat ambiguous). Also hear a keyboard composition by Nathan Shirley, a piano ballad and solo piece by Fernie Canto, and a surprisingly melodious Icelandic rework of Happy Birthday – plus Adam Neely’s ‘Making the Locrian Sound Good‘ challenge, featuring efforts by Paul Davids, Ben Levin, Samurai Guitarist, & Nahre Sol.

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• Rock: Several guitar groups have turned to the scale’s unique instabilities, including The Strokes (Juicebox), Rush (YYZ: intro), Judas Priest (Painkiller), Seven Impale (Helix), King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (Gliese 710), and Metallica (Sad But True: main riff) – in fact, you could argue that the iconic intro to Enter Sandman is a Locrian match as well.

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• Classical: Used in Benjamin Britten’s In Freezing Winter Night, and appears near the start of Claude Debussy’s Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp: II – as well as in the intro of Gabriel Fauré’s String Quartet in Em: II, and surfacing in several sections of Debussy’s Jeux and Paul Hindemith’s Turandot Scherzo (alternating with the Mixolydian). Also implied fleetingly in many other compostions, often as a modification of the Phrygian (e.g. in bar 8 of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Aleko: Introduction).

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• Soundtrack: As highlighted in 8-bit Music Theory’s excellent video ‘LOCRIAN doesn’t have to be SpOoKy‘, the scale turns up on multiple video game soundtracks – with examples drawn from Doom, Final Fantasy VI, The Legend of Zelda, and beyond. It also turns up in the Trainer Battle Theme from Pokemon, and as the Torture Chamber Theme from Super Castlevania IV.

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• India: Although the ‘♮4, b5, and no ♮5‘ combination is rare in North Indian music, several Locrian-congruent ragas have been devised by Hindustani artists over the years – including Meladalan (a name which translates as ‘Destroying the Foundational Scales‘), Parijat (below: a captivating journey through multiple modal shades), Ritu (derived from a Madhya Pradesh folk tune), Nauhar Todi (which emphasises the lower tetrachord), Antariksh (devised by Ashish Dha for spiritual purposes), and ‘Madhyam se Bhairavi‘ (‘Bhairavi from ma’: i.e. ‘Phrygian rotated onto its 4th degree’). I’m yet to trace the scale’s use in South India’s Carnatic traditions.

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• Middle East: Approximates the rare Maqam Lami, with likely origins in Iraq. Listen to an oud rendition by Rahim Al-Haj, a qu’ranic chant by Imam Ahmad Nufais, and an amazing 1932 recording by Ezra Aharon (“part of the Iraqi delegation to the First Cairo Congress of Arab Music…[who] won first place, and were awarded a prize by King Fuad I”). Also gives shape to a Hebrew-language Song of Songs recitation by Itamar Malka.

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—Pentatonic Modes—

 

Major Pentatonic (1-2-3-5-6)
Suspended Pentatonic (1-2-4-5-b7)
Phrygian Pentatonic (1-b3-4-b6-b7)
Scottish Pentatonic (1-2-4-5-6)
Minor Pentatonic (1-b3-4-5-b7)

—Melodic Minor Modes—

 

Melodic Minor (1-2-b3-4-5-6-7)
Dorian b2 (1-b2-b3-4-5-6-b7)
Lydian Augmented (1-2-3-#4-#5-6-7)
Lydian Dominant (1-2-3-#4-5-6-b7)
Mixolydian b6 (1-2-3-4-5-b6-b7)
Aeolian b5 (1-2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7)
Superlocrian (1-b2-b3-b4-b5-b6-b7)

—Harmonic Minor Modes—

 

Harmonic Minor (1-2-b3-4-5-b6-7)
Locrian ♮6 (1-b2-b3-4-b5-6-b7)
Ionian Augmented (1-2-3-4-#5-6-7)
Dorian #4 (1-2-b3-#4-5-6-b7)
Phrygian Dominant (1-b2-3-4-5-b6-b7)
Lydian #2 (1-#2-3-#4-5-6-7)
Superlocrian Dim. (1-b2-b3-b4-b5-b6-bb7)

—Other Scales—

 

Boogie Woogie (1-3-5-6-b7)
Insen/Bairagi (1-b2-4-5-b7)
In/Miyakobushi (1-b2-4-5-b6)
Blues Minor (1-b3-4-b5-5-b7)
Minor Hexatonic (1-2-b3-4-5-b7)
Whole-Tone (1-2-3-#4-b6-b7)
Double Harmonic (1-b2-3-4-5-b6-7)
Enigmatic (1-b2-3-#4-#5-#6-7)
Harmonic Major (1-2-3-4-5-b6-7)
Hungarian Minor (1-2-b3-#4-5-b6-7)
Neapolitan Major (1-b2-b3-4-5-6-7)
Neapolitan Minor (1-b2-b3-4-5-b6-7)

—Strange Global Scales—

Some of the most distinctive scale forms I’ve encountered from around the world…

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[coming soon]

 

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Scale-vibratory variance: “The ‘cents‘ system was invented in the 1880s by the English philologist and mathematician Alexander John Ellis…[who] employed a logarithmic function to transform the geometric ratios of frequencies to an easily understood arithmetic scale. He divided the octave into 1,200 units, so [a] half-step was 100 units or ‘cents’.”

 

“Comparing music from all over the world with this new tool, Ellis discovered that tuning systems were far too varied to be explained by a mathematical theory…contradict[ing] Pythagoras and all the others after him who claimed that musical scales can be explained mathematically… Although Ellis did not employ a theory of culture, he demonstrated that musical scales are ‘very diverse, very artificial, and very capricious’. They must result from human intervention and choice.”

• (Excerpt from Ethnomusicology: A Very Short Introduction, edited by UCLA Musicology Professor Timothy Rice)

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Socially-sourced scales: “There are at least three problems with trying to match Pythagoras’ pure tuning. First, scales are not purely tuned, which has been known for a long time. It’s also not clear to what extent [global] scales tie into the kinds of principles Pythagoras pioneered: Pfordresher cites Indonesian musical scales as an example that does not align itself with Pythagorean pure tones. The third problems rests with Pythagoras basing his theory on instruments: first strings, and later pipes.”

 

“Probably the best starting point…is to look at singing, not instruments. Maybe scales were designed as a way to accommodate how out of tune, how variable singers are. We suggest that the starting point…was probably not the tuning of musical instruments, but the mistuning of the human voice…songs [must] be understood, remembered and reproduced. To accomplish these goals, that system needs pitches spaced widely enough to accommodate inconsistencies from person to person…”

• (Peter Pfordresher, Professor of Psychology at University at Buffalo)

—Microtonal Scales—

[coming soon]

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[n]-tet temperaments: different equilateral divisions of the octave:
12-tet | 19-tet | 24-tet | 31-tet

Alpha/Gamma Scales: Wendy Carlos’ non-octave-repeating scales

Blackjack: named after the card game for its 21 steps (each ~117 cents)

Bohlen-Pierce: splits a 17 semitones into 13 steps of ~146 cents each

Golden Ratio Scale: jumps of ~833 cents from Fibonacci-like sequences

Miracle Scales: 10-tones made of 9 smaller ‘secors’ and 1 larger interval

Pelog/Slendro: the core scales of Javanese gamelan (like 5-tet/9-tet)

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—Submissions & Contact—

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Help me improve the Music in Scales project over time: use the form below to send in scale matches, corrections, feedback, suggestions, etc – all contributions fully credited!

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(Apologies in advance if reply schedules are variable: never a lack of enthusiasm, just time! I’ll get back properly when I do…)

[Join my PATREON!]

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