"12 notes of the ancient Tamil musical octave. Among the 12 notes, the flats were called ""kuRai"" (குறை) and the sharps were called ""nirai"" (நிறை). The seven major ""palais"" or parent scales of the music of the ancient Tamils are: ""Sempalai"" (corresponding to the present ""Harikambhoji""), ""Padumalai Palai"" (""Natabhairavi""), ""Sevvazhi Palai"" (""Hanumatodi""), ""Arum Palai"" (""Dheerasankarabharanam""), ""Kodi Palai"" (""Kharaharapriya""), ""Vilari Palai"" (""Hanumatodi""), and ""Merchem Palai"" (""Mechakalyani""). The four original ""panns"" of ""maruthappann"", ""kurinchippann"", ""sevvazhi"" and ""sadari"" thus evolved into 103 ""panns"" with varying characterisations. In all of these PaNs, Uyir SurangaL (Jeevaswarams: Life Notes) exist. The life note of a PaN"
"Major scale The major scale (or Ionian scale) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at double its frequency so that it is called a higher octave of the same note (from Latin ""octavus"", the eighth). The simplest major scale to write is C major, the only major scale not requiring sharps or flats: \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { </score> The major scale had a central importance in"
"flats, and 5 (sharps) + 7 (flats) = 12. Keys past 7 sharps or flats exist only theoretically and not in practice. The enharmonic keys are six pairs, three major and three minor: B major/C major, G minor/A minor, F major/G major, D minor/E minor, C major/D major and A minor/B minor. There are practically no works composed in keys that require double sharps or double flats in the key signature. In practice, musicians learn and practice 15 major and 15 minor keys, three more than 12 due to the enharmonic spellings. Enharmonic equivalents can also be used to improve"
"and thus the interval of a quarter tone is never used and the three-quarter tone or neutral second should be considered the characteristic interval. By contrast, in the European equally tempered scale the octave is divided into twelve equal divisions, or exactly half as many as the Arab system. Thus the system is written in European musical notation using a slashed flat for quarter flat (some systems use a reversed flat sign instead), a flat for half-tone flat, a slashed flat and a flat for three-quarter tone flat, sharp with one vertical line for quarter sharp, sharp (♯) for half-step"
"in all keys. Notes can be arranged in a variety of scales and modes. Western music theory generally divides the octave into a series of twelve tones, called a chromatic scale, within which the interval between adjacent tones is called a half step or semitone. Selecting tones from this set of 12 and arranging them in patterns of semitones and whole tones creates other scales. The most commonly encountered scales are the seven-toned major, the harmonic minor, the melodic minor, and the natural minor. Other examples of scales are the octatonic scale and the pentatonic or five-tone scale, which is"
"of sharps or flats (which is the same in any clef), rather than their position on the staff. For example, if a key signature has only one sharp, it must be an F-sharp, which corresponds to a G major or an E minor key. However, in 20th-century music, there are occasional exceptions to this, where a piece uses an unorthodox or synthetic scale, where a key signature may be invented to reflect this. This may consist of a number of sharps or flats that are not the normal ones (such as a signature of just C or E), or it"
"scales may be used in a composition, such as in Claude Debussy's ""L'Isle Joyeuse"". To the right, the first scale is a whole-tone scale, while the second and third scales are diatonic scales. All three are used in the opening pages of Debussy's piece. Scales in traditional Western music generally consist of seven notes and repeat at the octave. Notes in the commonly used scales (see just below) are separated by whole and half step intervals of ""tones"" and ""semitones."" The harmonic minor scale includes a three-semitone step; the anhemitonic pentatonic includes two of those and no semitones. Western music"
"the note A occurs twice in this pattern, there are only four pitches in all. Tetratonic scale A tetratonic scale is a musical scale or mode with four notes per octave. This is in contrast to a heptatonic (seven-note) scale such as the major scale and minor scale, or a dodecatonic (chromatic 12-note ) scale, both common in modern Western music. Tetratonic scales are not common in modern art music, and are generally associated with prehistoric music. Tetratonic scales were common among the Plains Indians, though less common than the pentatonic scale. Amongst the Arapaho, Blackfoot, Crow, Omaha, Kiowa, Pawnee,"
"key signatures showing sharps or flats on both octaves for notes which fall within the staff. An accidental is an exception to the key signature, applying only to the measure and octave in which it appears. Although a key signature may be written using any combination of sharp and flat symbols, the most common series of thirteen homogeneous key signatures—ranging from six flats to six sharps, with each successive flat or sharp placed on the note a perfect fifth below or above, respectively, the previous one—is assumed in much of this article. A piece scored using a single diatonic key"
"of altered (""vikrt"") and natural (""shuddha"") notes with respect to the Bilawal thaat. In any seven-tone scale (starting with S), R, G, D, and N can be natural (""shuddha"", lit. ""pure"") or flat (""komal"", lit. ""soft"") but never sharp, whereas the M can be natural or sharp (""tivra"", lit. ""fast"") but never flat, making twelve notes as in the Western chromatic scale. The sharp or flat tones are called ""vikrt swara"" (""vikrt"", lit. ""altered""). Selecting seven tones in ascending order, where S and P are always natural whereas five other tones (R, G, M, D, N) can assume only one"
"temperament. Unless ""f"" = 7/12, as in 12-tone equal temperament, the first five notes in the list above, G, D, A, E, B, will not belong to the same pitch classes as the last five, F, C, G, D, A, and therefore not be enharmonically equivalent to them. If ""f"" > 7/12, each sharp is 12""f"" − 7 of an octave sharper than its otherwise enharmonically equivalent flat, whereas, if ""f"" < 7/12, it is 7 − 12""f"" of an octave flatter. On a standard musical keyboard, with only the 12 notes of the chromatic scale in each octave, only"
"in music as it is not a practical key for composition. The enharmonic equivalent B minor, which would only contain five flats as opposed to A minor's seven sharps, is normally used. There is, however, in Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C major, a brief section near the beginning of the piece which modulates to A minor. A-sharp minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has seven sharps, while the direct enharmonic equivalent, B minor, has five flats. Its relative major is"
"as the central, natural or basic major scale because all of its notes are natural notes, whereas every other major scale has at least one sharp or flat in it. The notes F, C, E, B, and most notes inflected by double-flats and double-sharps correspond in pitch with natural notes; however, they are not regarded as natural notes but rather as enharmonic equivalents of them and are just as much chromatically inflected notes as most sharped and flatted notes that are represented by black notes on a keyboard. In musical notation, a ""natural sign"" () is an accidental sign used"
"Tetratonic scale A tetratonic scale is a musical scale or mode with four notes per octave. This is in contrast to a heptatonic (seven-note) scale such as the major scale and minor scale, or a dodecatonic (chromatic 12-note ) scale, both common in modern Western music. Tetratonic scales are not common in modern art music, and are generally associated with prehistoric music. Tetratonic scales were common among the Plains Indians, though less common than the pentatonic scale. Amongst the Arapaho, Blackfoot, Crow, Omaha, Kiowa, Pawnee, and Sioux, as well as some Plateau tribes, especially the Flathead, the tetratonic and pentatonic"
"integral values to the intelligibility and appeal of music. A musical scale is a discrete set of pitches used in making or describing music. The most important scale in the Western tradition is the diatonic scale but many others have been used and proposed in various historical eras and parts of the world. Each pitch corresponds to a particular frequency, expressed in hertz (Hz), sometimes referred to as cycles per second (c.p.s.). A scale has an interval of repetition, normally the octave. The octave of any pitch refers to a frequency exactly twice that of the given pitch. Succeeding superoctaves"
"the musical note E and consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C and D. Its key signature has six sharps and one double sharp (or eight sharps). The E-sharp natural minor scale is: \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { </score> Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The E-sharp harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are: \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { </score> \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { </score> Its relative major is G-sharp major, which is usually replaced"
"and the (lost) harmonic minor seventh is 31.174 cents sharp. The 19 tone system can be represented with the traditional letter names and system of sharps and flats by treating flats and sharps as distinct notes; in 19 TET only B is enharmonic with C, and E with F. With this interpretation, the 19 notes in the scale match the table below. Because 19 is a prime number, repeating any fixed interval in this tuning system cycles through all possible notes; just as one may cycle through 12 EDO on the circle of fifths, since a fifth is 7 semitones,"
"The sharp sign raises a note by a semitone or half-step, and a flat lowers it by the same amount. In modern tuning a half step has a frequency ratio of , approximately 1.059. The accidentals are written after the note name: so, for example, F represents F-sharp, B is B-flat, and C is C natural (or C). Additional accidentals are the double-sharp , raising the frequency by two semitones, and double-flat , lowering it by that amount. In musical notation, accidentals are placed before the note symbols. Systematic alterations to the seven lettered pitches in the scale can be"
"note (in this case B, D and F) provide the harmony. In the musical scale, there are twelve pitches. Each pitch is referred to as a ""degree"" of the scale. The names A, B, C, D, E, F, and G are insignificant. The intervals, however, are not. Here is an example: As can be seen, no note always corresponds to a certain degree of the scale. The ""tonic"", or 1st-degree note, can be any of the 12 notes (pitch classes) of the chromatic scale. All the other notes fall into place. For example, when C is the tonic, the fourth"
"Circle of fifths text table The Circle of fifths, text table, shows the number of flats or sharps in each of the diatonic musical scales and keys. Both C major and A minor keys have no flats or sharps. In the table, minor keys are written with lowercase letters, for brevity. However, in common guitar tabs notation, a minor key is designated with a lowercase ""m"". For example, A-minor is ""Am"" and D-sharp minor is ""Dm""). The small interval between equivalent notes, such as F-sharp and G-flat, is the Pythagorean comma. Minor scales start with , major scales start with"
"Circle of fifths text table The Circle of fifths, text table, shows the number of flats or sharps in each of the diatonic musical scales and keys. Both C major and A minor keys have no flats or sharps. In the table, minor keys are written with lowercase letters, for brevity. However, in common guitar tabs notation, a minor key is designated with a lowercase ""m"". For example, A-minor is ""Am"" and D-sharp minor is ""Dm""). The small interval between equivalent notes, such as F-sharp and G-flat, is the Pythagorean comma. Minor scales start with , major scales start with"
"commonly), a double sharp sign on a key signature with a single sharp indicates only a double sharp, not a triple sharp. Assuming enharmonicity, many accidentals will create equivalences between pitches that are written differently. For instance, raising the note B to B is equal to the note C. Assuming all such equivalences, the complete chromatic scale adds five additional pitch classes to the original seven lettered notes for a total of 12 (the 13th note completing the octave), each separated by a half-step. Notes that belong to the diatonic scale relevant in the context are sometimes called ""diatonic notes"";"
"A. The reason is that the most commonly used scale in Western music is the major scale, and the sequence C–D–E–F–G–A–B–C (the C major scale) is the simplest example of a major scale. Indeed, it is the only major scale that can be obtained using natural notes (the white keys on the piano keyboard) and is typically the first musical scale taught in music schools. In a newly developed system, primarily in use in the United States, notes of scales become independent of music notation. In this system the natural symbols C–D–E–F–G–A–B refer to the absolute notes, while the names"
"found and the broken cuneiform tablet Plimpton 322 has been interpreted by Neugebauer as listing Pythagorean triples formula_6 generated by ""p"", ""q"" both regular and less than 60. In music theory, the just intonation of the diatonic scale involves regular numbers: the pitches in a single octave of this scale have frequencies proportional to the numbers in the sequence 24, 27, 30, 32, 36, 40, 45, 48 of nearly consecutive regular numbers. Thus, for an instrument with this tuning, all pitches are regular-number harmonics of a single fundamental frequency. This scale is called a 5-limit tuning, meaning that the interval"
"or a ""sharp"" key signature. The key signatures with seven flats () and seven sharps () are rarely used because they have simpler enharmonic equivalents. For example, the key of C major (seven sharps) is more simply represented as D major (five flats). For modern practical purposes these keys are (in twelve tone equal temperament) the same, because C and D are enharmonically the same note. Pieces ""are"" written in these ""extreme"" sharp or flat keys, however: for example, Bach's Prelude and Fugue No. 3 from Book 1 of The Well-Tempered Clavier BWV 848 is in C major. The modern"
"the key of F has one flat, the key of B has 2 flats, and so on. At the bottom of the circle, the sharp and flat keys overlap, showing pairs of enharmonically equivalent key signatures. Starting at any pitch, ascending by the interval of an equal tempered fifth, one passes all twelve tones clockwise, to return to the beginning pitch class. To pass the twelve tones counterclockwise, it is necessary to ascend by perfect fourths, rather than fifths. (To the ear, the sequence of fourths gives an impression of settling, or resolution; see cadence.) Pitches within the chromatic scale"
"sharp or flat represents a major (or perfect) interval. A number with a flat represents a minor interval. In this example, the numbers mean: Thus, for instance, the A natural minor scale can be built by lowering the 3rd, 6th, and 7th degrees of the A major scale by one semitone: \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { </score> Because of this, the key of A minor is called the ""parallel minor"" of A major. The intervals between the notes of a natural minor scale follow the sequence below: where ""whole"" stands for a whole tone (a red u-shaped"
"D, E, F, G, A, B, C and then in reverse order, with no key signature or accidentals. In all technicality, ""music"" can be composed of notes at any arbitrary physical frequency. Since the physical causes of music are vibrations of mechanical systems, they are often measured in hertz (Hz), with 1 Hz meaning one vibration per second. For historical and other reasons, especially in Western music, only twelve notes of fixed frequencies are used. These fixed frequencies are mathematically related to each other, and are defined around the central note, A. The current ""standard pitch"" or modern ""concert pitch"""
"diminished fourths (for example, B to E). Several triads (like B–E–F and B–C–F) contain both these intervals and have normal fifths. All meantone tunings fall into the valid tuning range of the syntonic temperament, so all meantone tunings are syntonic tunings. All syntonic tunings, including the meantones, have a conceptually infinite number of notes in each octave, that is, seven natural notes, seven sharp notes (F to B), seven flat notes (B to F), double sharp notes, double flat notes, triple sharps and flats, and so on. In fact, double sharps and flats are uncommon, but still needed; triple sharps"
"C-flat major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has seven flats. The direct enharmonic equivalent of C major is B major, a key signature with five sharps. The C major scale is: \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { </score> C major is the only major or minor key, other than theoretical keys, which has ""flat"" or ""sharp"" in its name, but whose tonic note is the enharmonic equivalent of a natural note (a white key"
"equal steps of the standard scale. Alternate scales may be specified by indicating the size of equal tempered steps, for example Wendy Carlos' 78-cent alpha scale and 63.8-cent beta scale, and Gary Morrison's 88-cent scale (13.64 steps per octave or 14 per 1232-cent stretched octave). This gives the alpha scale 15.39 steps per octave and the beta scale 18.75 steps per octave. See the Delta scale and Gamma scale, also non-octave repeating. Bohlen–Pierce scale The Bohlen–Pierce scale (BP scale) is a musical tuning and scale, first described in the 1970s, that offers an alternative to the octave-repeating scales typical in"
"flats is based on the same natural notes in reverse order: B, E, A, D, G, C, F (Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles's Father or Blanket Exploded And Dad Got Cold Feet.), encountered in the following series of major keys: C→F→B→E→A→D→G→C. In the above progression, key of C major (with seven sharps) may be more conveniently written as the harmonically equivalent key D major (with five flats), and likewise C major (with seven flats) written as B major (with five sharps). Nonetheless, it is possible to extend the order of sharp keys yet further, through C→G→D→A→E→B→F→C, adding the double-sharped"
"Due to the principle of octave equivalence, scales are generally considered to span a single octave, with higher or lower octaves simply repeating the pattern. A musical scale represents a division of the octave space into a certain number of scale steps, a scale step being the recognizable distance (or interval) between two successive notes of the scale. However, there is no need for scale steps to be equal within any scale and, particularly as demonstrated by microtonal music, there is no limit to how many notes can be injected within any given musical interval. A measure of the width"