Musical Scale    Mastery Learn the diatonic scales, up and down and over as many octaves as your dulcimer has, of the keys of A, D, C, and G.   You should also master scales in the keys of E and F.  On a 16/15 dulcimer, the E scale is low and only one octave and the F scale is high and only one octave. Learn the pentatonic scale in the keys of D, G and A. See the exercises for more scales.  A musical scale is a specific, ordered, progression of tones. It is the source of the tones that become the melodic and harmonic elements of a tune.   Mostly, we think of a scale as running from the lowest note to the highest note. More often than not, when we think of a scale, we think of the diatonic scale: do re me fa so la ti do. The pattern of musical intervals on this scale is very important to know.

The pattern of the diatonic scale in whole tone and half tone steps: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half.  Using this pattern to build a scale in the key of C, the pattern forces the right relationships among tones to get the diatonic scale. From C to D is a whole tone. The pattern does not permit the half step of C# or Db.  From D to E is a whole tone. No D# or Eb allowed. From E to F is a half step. And so forth to build the scale. It may seem unimportant to commit the obvious to memory. However, this scale pattern becomes very helpful in the study of modes.   There are many different kinds of scales beyond the diatonic that are very useful on the dulcimer. Some of these are helpful in developing arrangements. Some are helpful in building skills. Small parts of scales can be used as connective tissue between melodic phrases to liven up an arrangement. The location of two specific tones governs the musical power of a scale and determines the nature of melodies constructed from those scales. Those tones are the leading tone and the tritone. The leading tone is the 7th tone of the scale on the diatonic scale. In the key of D the leading tone is C#. In the key of G the leading tone is F#. A tritone is a musical interval of three whole tones. It does not appear naturally in the diatonic scale. The tone is variously described as either an augmented 4th or diminished 5th. This tone factors into all sorts of techniques used to develop tension in music. It is so dissonant that it was banned in medieval church music. The tone was named diablo de musica – the devil of music or sometimes the devil IN music. Today the tritone is a frequent and welcome component of musical arrangements. A musical scale is a specific, ordered progression of tones   A scale is the source of the tones that become the melodic and harmonic elements of a tune  Music is not limited to the diatonic scale. In fact much beautiful dulcimer music is played using scales other than the diatonic. More will be said about this under the heading of “modes.” For now, we look at a few samples of non-diatonic scales.

A musical scale with five pitches in the octave is called a pentatonic scale. This scale is vitally important to all musicians. This scale is the one from which most melodies of popular and folk music draw their tones. It is also the scale from which musicians often base improvisation.  It is a very forgiving scale. One pentatonic scale is formed by the black keys on the piano. That’s not a friendly key for the dulcimer.  Pentatonic Scale in D: D E G A B   Pentatonic Scale in G: G A C D E Hexatonic Scales: A musical scale with six pitches in the octave is called a hexatonic scale is a. Examples of hexatonic scales include: A blues scale:       In D - D F G G# A C D   (note that the C is a C NATURAL)              In G - G Bb C C# D F G (note that the F is an F NATURAL)               In C - C Eb F F# G Bb C.   The augmented scale:   In D - D F F# A Bb C#                                                                         In G - G A# B D Eb F#                            In C - C D# E G Ab B The whole tone scale:  C D E F# G# A# C The nature of the whole tone scale makes it possible to create only two distinctive whole tone scales. So, the concept of key does not carry much value. The whole tone scale was over-used in the movies of the 1940s to depict mental stress of a character. The look and sound is thought to be more campy than dramatic   It may appear that there is an enormous amount of information to remember about scales. Most dulcimer music uses the diatonic, pentatonic, Dorian, mixolydian, Aeolian scales and various minor scales. The patterns of these scales are familiar to everyone

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