 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: huda
Date: 2011-12-15 01:05
im an amature, and i dont get scales. what are they, when are they used, how to identify them, how many are there.......
also, what notes should i focus on mainly(what is the highest and lowest a normal song requires-just your plain average song-)
thank you
Post Edited (2011-12-15 01:08)
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2011-12-15 01:13
A scale is an arrangement of specific notes. Usually they are 7 notes, with an 8th added an octave above the first note. An octave is "the same" note either higher or lower.
Western (classical, pop, jazz, rock, folk, country, etc.) music uses for the most part only 2 kinds of scales-Major and Minor. (There are a few other types used but not in _most_ music.)
Major scales and minor scales both have specific arrangements of half and whole steps. Major scales are whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half. Minor scales are whole-half-whole-whole-half-whole-whole. Sometimes minor scales are altered using one of two other forms (the one above is the natural minor)--either harmonic minor or melodic minor.
Ultimately there is no number of actual scales but in western music if you count the 3 versions of minor scales plus the major scales, you'd have 48.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2011-12-15 03:55
For the basics on the major scale I always reference the song "Do-Re-Me" from 'The Sound of Music.'
Most popular songs lie within an octave range (the National Anthem being of a GREATER range and NOT easy to sing) and are easy to sing because most if not all the notes lie within ONE scale. Songs that are a bit more complicated would be such as what you'd find in 'West Side Story.'
..................Paul Aviles
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Author: Tony M
Date: 2011-12-15 05:25
What are they? Scales are arrangements of notes that proceed in a sequence, either up or down. Most cultures in the world have produced and used five note arrangements (pentatonic) of varying patterns (patterns of semitones and whole tones). Most modern western music uses scales with seven note arrangements, e.g. C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, is the C major scale (7 notes plus the repeated C makes eight which is called the octave). There are a variety of scales but generally western music uses one major scale and a number of minor scales (see replies above). Each scale can be played in a different key and there are twelve keys (C, C#, D, Eb, E, etc.)
When are they used? Try not to think in this way at first. You say you are an amateur and I'm inferring from that you are not an advanced player. Instead of thinking when to use them, think of them as the available range of notes that you have to play with in a particular key. Think this way until you start to hear things that don't sound quite right. But don't be locked into a particular octave of the scale. If we stay in C major then your instrument begins on low E (I'm assuming that you are playing a Bb soprano clarinet). So you have from that note up to where you can play to use notes from the C major scale. Try them out.
How to identify them? Listen to very short things and try to play them on your clarinet. You'll soon start to be able to differentiate one note from another. Just pick a tune that you know really well and try and play one little phrase. It's a slow process but you get better and better at it the more you do. When you're reading music you identify them by the music notation but I think you are asking about recognsing them aurally.
How many are there? A lot but you don't need to worry about most of them at this stage. Start with the major scales that you hear best and can reproduce on your clarinet. Work through the 12 major scales and then work through the minors by then you won't need any advice about the rest.
Plain average song? Now you need to begin to understand harmony. Everything that has been said above relates to melody. Harmony can be understood from the scale as well but not here. Start listening closely and trying to reproduce things on your clarinet and you are on your way. Then get a teacher for the rest and you'll have more fun than you can imagine.
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Author: ned
Date: 2011-12-15 21:38
Katrina, Paul & Tony,
Your worthwhile responses, I'd say, are probably too complicated for the person in question to understand.
Huda,
''.........also, what notes should i focus on mainly.......''
You'll need to focus on all of them actually.
Go and find a teacher who will start you on the necessary doh-ray-me path to musical understanding.
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2011-12-16 04:29
Yeah, ned, I guess my response is a little too complicated. When I answered the original post did not ask about what notes to focus on...
:)
A teacher will be your best option, Huda...It's too difficult to answer this question here, without a way to make sounds!
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Author: claritoot26
Date: 2011-12-16 17:28
All of the above responses are correct. The explanation of patterns of whole and half steps in the major and minor scales is good. Half steps are adjacent notes (two keys right next to each other on the piano). Whole steps skip one note in between. A scale using all of the white and black keys in succession is called the chromatic scale. Flight of the Bumblebee is based on that. There are 12 different notes in every octave, thus there are 12 major scales, and each of those has 3 forms of the relative minor scale associated with it.
Lori
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Author: ned
Date: 2011-12-16 22:34
claritoot26/Lori,
And of course you are correct as well...................despite this, I feel that the originator of the post (given the wording) will still have difficulty understanding any of this.
A tutor is essential and I presume that Mr/Ms huda has understood this by now? Perhaps you could confirm, for all concerned?
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Author: C.Elizabeth07
Date: 2011-12-16 23:06
I would begin with major scales which will sound like "do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do" like from The Sound of Music as someone said above. Scales are used all the time. They are the very basic for music! Music is simply scales that are twisted and manipulated into different patterns. My belief is "if you really know your scales you can basically play anything". There are 12 major scales (which are the most common especially for beginners), but there are far more then that total.
Scales are so so essential to playing. I'm a professional and still go through scales and scale patterns each day, even if I'm crunched for time and its the only thing I get to at least I did my long tones and scales. They are the vitamins for music.
But like was suggested before, you can go on your own and work but it would probably be more helpful to have a teacher and someone who can guide you.
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