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→Analysis of the Major Scale
Notice how the major scale is really just a whole, whole, half sequence, then a single whole tone, then another whole, whole, half sequence. (w w h) w (w w h). The (w w h) sequence is called a '''tetrachord''' (actually has 4 notes), and is historically very important in the development of music. It is our ''Do Re Mi Fa'' melody from above.
Notice also how we say Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, and not Do Ti La So Fa Mi Re Do. In other words, by default, we are singing the ''ascending'' version of the scale. Whether we sing it ascending or descending doesn't change the fact that these notes form the major scale. However, it does reveal a bit about the scale itself. When we sing the scale, we encounter two semi-tones. Semi-tones, by nature are the most dissonant (non-harmonic) two notes in the 12 tone scale. Notice the location of the semi-tones in the major scale. There is one between the third and fourth note in the scale, and one between the seventh and the octave. If we are singing the scale ascending, that means our seventh note will be the most dissonant and create the most tension. Remember that our tonic note is like gravity - we find the most release there. So not only is the seventh note the most dissonant note in comparison to the tonic, it is also the tonic's neighbor in the scale, and will occur directly before reaching the tonic note in the ascending scale. '''The seventh is often called the ''<u>leading tone'' </u> because it leads into the tonic.'''
The other semi-tone occurs between the 3rd and 4th notes. Since the 4th is quite harmonic, it makes sense that there is a semi-tone here - you can sense the resolution from the 3rd. The 5th is arguably even more harmonic than the 4th, but if we were to lead into it with a semi-tone, then our 4th would be sharp, and we would no longer have the harmonic 4th note. Also, we don't want the 5th to have a greater resolution than the root/tonic note.