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Definition. [] The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone, also known as a half-step, above or below its adjacent pitches. As a result, in 12-tone equal temperament (the most common tuning in Western music), the chromatic scale covers all 12 of the available pitches. Thus, there is only one chromatic scale.
Circle of fifths showing major and minor keys. In music theory, the circle of fifths (sometimes also cycle of fifths) is a way of organizing pitches as a sequence of perfect fifths. Starting on a C, and using the standard system of tuning for Western music (12-tone equal temperament), the sequence is: C, G, D, A, E, B, F ♯ /G ♭, C ♯ /D ...
The term quarter tone can refer to a number of different intervals, all very close in size. For example, some 17th- and 18th-century theorists used the term to describe the distance between a sharp and enharmonically distinct flat in mean-tone temperaments (e.g., D ♯ –E ♭). [ 2 ] In the quarter-tone scale, also called 24-tone equal ...
Melodies can be based on a diatonic scale and maintain its tonal characteristics but contain many accidentals, up to all twelve tones of the chromatic scale, such as the opening of Henry Purcell's "Thy Hand, Belinda" from Dido and Aeneas (1689) with figured bass), which features eleven of twelve pitches while chromatically descending by half steps, [1] the missing pitch being sung later.
Key signature showing F ♯ and C ♯ (the key of D major or B minor) In Western musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp (♯), flat (♭), or rarely, natural (♮) symbols placed on the staff at the beginning of a section of music. The initial key signature in a piece is placed immediately after the clef at the beginning of the ...
Musical symbols are marks and symbols in musical notation that indicate various aspects of how a piece of music is to be performed. There are symbols to communicate information about many musical elements, including pitch, duration, dynamics, or articulation of musical notes; tempo, metre, form (e.g., whether sections are repeated), and details about specific playing techniques (e.g., which ...
The natural trumpet was used as a military instrument to facilitate communication (e.g. break camp, retreat, etc.). Even before the late Baroque period the natural trumpet had been accepted into Western art music. There is evidence, for example, of extensive use of trumpet ensembles in Venetian ceremonial music of the 16th century.
The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition.The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are sounded as often as one another in a piece of music while preventing the emphasis of any one note [3] through the use of tone rows, orderings of the 12 ...