Klarinet Archive - Posting 000206.txt from 1997/07

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Pentatonic Scale
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 13:41:58 -0400

On Mon, 7 Jul 1997, Ryan Lowe wrote:

> Could somebody please tell me the form of pentatonic major and pentatonic
> minor scales? I had them written down....somewhere. When I looked in my
> little musical dictionary, the definition did not help at all. TIA

As someone else has already replied to you, the pentatonic scale, or major
pentatonic as many jazz players and teachers have begun to call it, has
the notes (in the key of C), C, D, E, G, A. The interval structure is:
M2, M2, m3, M2, m3. You can get the same structure in the key of F# major
by playing all the black keys on the piano keyboard.

The term "minor pentatonic" is actually something of a misnomer. Again,
as stated in a previous message, what people usually mean when they use
this term is (in the key of C minor), C, Eb, F, G, Bb. Here, the interval
structure is m3, M2, M2, m3, M2. This actually is just a permutation or
rotation of the Eb pentatonic scale. Notice that it contains Eb, F, G,
Bb, C, which is the scale which has the major pentatonic structure built
on the note Eb. So, we can say that the minor pentatonic scale is just
the same as the major pentatonic scale based a minor third higher than the
tonic of the minor key or chord. So, the A minor pentatonic would be C,
D, E, G, A, just as in C major, but starting on the A: A, C, D, E, G.

There are actually are dozens or hundreds of other possible pentatonic
scales, so it would be a little misleading to imply that the so-called
major and minor pentatonics are the only ones.

Ed Lacy
el2@-----.edu