Colors, in fact, are also made up from different frequencies, those of light waves.īecause notes repeat in each octave, the term 'chromatic scale' is often used for just the twelve notes of an octave. In this sense, chromatic scale means 'notes of all colors'. The set of all musical notes is called the Chromatic Scale, a name which comes from the Greek word chrôma, meaning color. We can do this in both directions (multiplying upwards and dividing downwards) to calculate the frequency of every musical note. The difference in pitch between adjacent notes is called a semitone.Īfter doing this for twelve notes, you end up with twice the frequency, which is the note one octave up from the starting note. The frequency of a note, when multiplied by the twelfth root of two, gives the frequency of the next note up. The range of frequencies in between is divided up into the twelve steps that give us all of our notes. Remember that with notes one octave apart, the higher note has double the frequency of the lower note. This is the number that, when multiplied by itself twelve times, gives a result of two. Most of the folks can now identify the mystery note by ear with the solfege syllable.There is a magic number in western music, known as the twelfth root of two, and it has a value of approximately 1.0595. After singing the scale, I play a random note. In just a few months, this training has yielded impressive results. Playing and singing the chromatic scale is like practicing every possible melody note you’ll ever encounter in advance.ĭuring my daily online Pop Up Uke lesson, which I began during the pandemic, I’ve been making the 40 to 50 players who show up each day sing the chromatic solfege syllables up and down. This practice will help you hear the notes of the major scale better too. I disagree with that.”Ī proven way to improve your listening skills is to play and sing the C chromatic scale up and down several times each day. They’ll tell you the whole secret to improvisation is the modes. I know the jazz people won’t tell you that. Chromaticism is the secret to improvisation. No matter what the song, the chromatic scale harmonizes it. There, Doane states, “I’ve changed one thing in my pedagogy, and that is the importance of the chromatic scale. Chalmers Doane in the Fall 2020 issue of this magazine. And while major-scale syllables remain the same ascending or descending, the five chromatic notes are sharped ascending and flatted descending, resulting in different syllables (Example 2).Īn example of how important chromatic scale practice is can be found in the article about Canadian educator J. This makes transposing to different keys with the solfege syllables a breeze. In North America, we use what is called the “moveable do system.” Any note you start a scale on is the root of the scale, or do. Play those four chromatic scales starting on the open strings, and you have the G, C, E, and A chromatic scales. On a ukulele, if you start on any open string and play every fret climbing the scale one fret at a time until you reach the octave, you will have played a chromatic scale. A chromatic scale consists of 12 tones (13 counting the octave), each a half step (semi-tone) apart within the octave: do to do. Four full chromatic scales are staring back at you. But why would anyone want to begin their study of Western music by ignoring a full five notes? ![]() I bet if you asked one hundred ukulele players what the most important musical scale is, they would answer it’s the major scale. ![]() The most important discovery I made during the early part of my independent music education was stumbling upon the chromatic scale and the chromatic scale solfege syllables. But did you know there are five other syllables which, when inserted into the major scale, create the 12-tone chromatic scale? You are no doubt familiar with the solfege syllables associated with the major scale, i.e., do– re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do (Example 1). The Julie Andrews character, Maria, sings the song “Do-Re-Mi” and magically teaches the seven Von Trapp family children to sing in just one scene! Probably the most famous application of the solfege syllables is from the Broadway musical and hit film The Sound of Music. Instead of singing 1-2-3 for the first three notes of a major scale, we’d sing do– re– mi (“doe-ray-me”). Solfege, from the Italian solfeggio, is applying a syllable to each note in a musical scale to make the scale singable. BY JIM D’VILLE | FROM THE WINTER 2020 ISSUE OF UKULELE
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