8,720
edits
Changes
m
→Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do
== Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do ==
We all know the sound of the common major scale: ''Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do''. Really it's like a short little melody. But where did it come from? Why are the frequencies chosen what they are? These are really, really big questions. It involves some serious music history, psychoacoustics, math, and conscious design. I feel they are important to answer, but it's still too early. For now, we need to understand simply that it works. If we sing Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti, we feel the tension. Where's that final Do? Similarly, if we just sing Do Re Mi, we want to keep going to the Fa; then it feels ok to end. The tension is at least partially resolved. We can also end on the So.
The major scale and most Western music is built around a tonic or root note. Melodies tend to start or end on this note. It is the gravitational center of the musical world. Our minds are drawn towards it.
In our scale, Do is ''unison '' or ''octave'', a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio with our root or tonic note. Fa and So are the 4th and 5th intervals with the tonic note - the most harmonic intervals other than the octave(4:3 and 3:2).
== The Chromatic Scale ==