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In music theory, the key of a piece is the group of pitches, or scale, that forms the basis of a musical composition in Western classical music, art music, and pop music. Tonality (from "Tonic") or key: Music which uses the notes of a particular scale is said to be "in the key of" that scale or in the tonality of that scale.
List of musical scales and modes Name Image Sound Degrees Intervals Integer notation # of pitch classes Lower tetrachord Upper tetrachord Use of key signature usual or unusual ; 15 equal temperament
Some scales use a different number of pitches. A common scale in Eastern music is the pentatonic scale, which consists of five notes that span an octave. For example, in the Chinese culture, the pentatonic scale is usually used for folk music and consists of C, D, E, G and A, commonly known as gong, shang, jue, chi and yu. [14] [15]
The concept of "mode" in Western music theory has three successive stages: in Gregorian chant theory, in Renaissance polyphonic theory, and in tonal harmonic music of the common practice period. In all three contexts, "mode" incorporates the idea of the diatonic scale , but differs from it by also involving an element of melody type .
Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and / or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions, and directionality.. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or the root of a triad with the greatest stability in a melody or in its harmony is called the tonic.
The Oxford Companion to Music describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (key signatures, time signatures, and rhythmic notation); the second is learning scholars' views on music from antiquity to the present; the third is a sub-topic of musicology ...
Major and minor may also refer to scales and chords that contain a major third or a minor third, respectively. A major scale is a scale in which the third scale degree (the mediant) is a major third above the tonic note. In a minor scale, the third degree is a minor third above the tonic.
Moreover, the key signature of the piece of music (or section) will generally reflect the accidentals in the corresponding major scale. For instance, if a piece of music is in E ♭ major, then the seven pitches in the E ♭ major scale (E ♭, F, G, A ♭, B ♭, C and D) are considered diatonic pitches, and the other five pitches (E ♮, F ...