LESSON NOTE BASIC FIVE 2 ND TREM 2017/2018

Subject: Music
Topic: Scales
Content: WEEK 1: THE MAJOR SCALE
A scale is a series of music tones ascending or descending in order of pitch in specific
intervals.
The Major scale is a scale with 8 notes progressing in whole and half step distances with
half steps between the 3rd and 4th notes, the 7th and 8th notes; starting from a note and ending
on the same. It is called a major scale because the distance between the 1 st and 3rd note is a
Major 3rd. It is denoted using the letters of the music alphabet e.g. C major. The most
common scale C major is arranged in this method:
C D E F G A B C1 TTSTTTS

WEEKS 2-4: THE MINOR SCALE

If you hear music which sounds sad or touching, it’s almost always in a minor key.
The Minor scale (Natural Minor) just like the major scale has 8 notes progressing in whole
and half step intervals (distances) with half steps between the 2nd and 3rd notes, 5th and 6th
notes. It is called a minor scale because the distance between the 1 st and 3rd note is a Minor
3rd. It is denoted using the letters of the music alphabet e.g. A minor. The A minor scale has a
relative major and vice-versa with the tonic of the minor key 3 half steps backward from the
tonic of the major key e.g. the relative major of a minor is C major.
The A minor scale:

ABCDEFGA TSTTSTT
There are 2 forms of the minor scale namely:
i. Harmonic minor
ii. Melodic minor
THE HARMONIC MINOR SCALE
The harmonic minor scale is a minor scale with the 7 th degree note raised by a
semitone. The semitones occur between the 2nd and 3rd, 5th and 6th, and 7th and 8th notes.
 THE MELODIC MINOR SCALE
In the melodic minor scale, the 6th and 7th notes are not the same descending as in
ascending:-

WEEKS 4-6: CONSTRUCTION OF MAJOR SCALES

Major scales may start from any note, but the use of accidentals (sharps or flats) will
be necessary in all the scales except C major, to obtain the correct order of tones and
semitones. There are 3 important things to be remembered when drawing a major scale:
i. There is a note on every line and space between the top and bottom notes.
ii. There is a semitone between the 3rd and 4th notes, and another between the 7th and
8th notes. The rest are all whole tones.
iii. No note is repeated twice in an octave except the tonic(1 st note in the scale). The
scale starts in the tonic and ends on the upper tonic.
THE C MAJOR SCALE
In the C major scale, the tonic and upper tonic are C and C 1 respectively. The half steps
occur between E and F, B and C1.

THE G MAJOR SCALE

In the G major scale, the tonic and upper tonic are G and G 1 respectively. The half
steps occur between B and C, F sharp and G1. F is raised (sharpened) by a semitone.

THE F MAJOR SCALE

 In the F major scale, the tonic and upper tonic are F and F1 respectively. The half steps
occur between A and B flat, E and F1. B is lowered (flattened) by a semitone.

THE D MAJOR SCALE

In the D major scale, the tonic and upper tonic are D and D1 respectively. The half steps
occur between F sharp and G, C sharp and D1. F and C are raised (sharpened) by a semitone.

WEEKS 7-9: VOICE PARTS

The voice is a natural music instrument through which humans produce music by singing.
There are four major voice parts in singing: Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass.
Soprano: the soprano is the highest voice part and is the highest voice part usually taken by
female singers. The soprano part is written on the Treble staff.
Alto: the alto part is sung by women with low voices and is usually placed below the soprano
part on the music staff. The alto part is written on the Treble staff.
Tenor: the tenor is the highest voice part for male singers. The tenor part is written on the
Bass staff.
Bass: the bass is the lowest voice part and is usually taken by men with low voices. The bass
part is written below the tenor part on the Bass staff.
Assignment:

WEEKS 10-12: INTRODUCTION TO SIGHT READING

Sight reading is the process of reading a piece of music and understanding what the
composer wants to convey. In a piece of music, the following information is important:
Pitch: It is the highness or lowness of a tone. It is represented on the staff using the letters:
ABCDEFG
Duration: It is the rhythm or beat in music. It is represented with the time signature and
music notes e.g. semibreve, crotchet, quaver, etc.
Intensity: It is the highness or lowness of a pitch. It is represented using dynamics markings
e.g. p meaning piano (soft)
F meaning forte (loud)
Mp meaning mezzo piano (moderately soft)
Mf meaning mezzo forte (moderately loud)
TIME SIGNATURE
 Time signatures are figures placed on the staff at the beginning of a piece of music.
They show the number of beats in each bar. The upper figure tells the number of beats in
each bar, and the lower figure tells what kind of note each beat is. There are 2 types of time
signature namely: Regular (Simple, Compound) and Irregular time signatures.
In Simple time, we have 3 groups of time signatures namely:
i. Simple Duple:

ii. Simple Triple:

iii. Simple Quadruple:

KEY SIGNATURE
A piece of music made from the notes of a scale is said to be in the key of that scale,
and the first note of the scale is the keynote (tonic) of the music. Key Signatures are the
sharps or flats placed at the beginning of each staff. They show what key the music is in. all
keys except C major and A minor need sharps or flats to form their key signatures e.g.
C major G major F major

ACCIDENTALS
Accidentals are music symbols placed to the left of note-heads to indicate the raising
or lowering of a pitch. There are 5 types of accidentals namely:
Sharp ( ): It raises the pitch of a music note by a half step (semitone)
Double Sharp ( ): It raises the pitch of a music note by a whole step (tone)
Flat (): It lowers the pitch of a music note by a semitone
Double flat ( ): It lowers the pitch of a music note by a tone
Natural ( ): It restores a note to its natural value i.e. lowers a sharpened note or raises a
flattened note by a semitone.
When sight reading, the following guidelines should be taken:
Step I: Take note of the staff (treble, bass etc) on which the music is written.
Step II: The key signature is placed immediately after the clef. If no key signature is present, it
means the music is to be played in C major.
Step III: The time signature of the song follows the key signature. A sign C means common
time or 4 crotchet beats in a bar.
Step IV: Know the ascending/descending order of sol-fa notation symbols i.e.
Do Re Mi Fa So La Te Do. The tonic (doh or lah) is the name of the key e.g. the tonic in C
major is C.
Step V: When accidental affects a letter in a bar, it affects all the notes in the bar with that
letter until a natural occurs.