Nov

Culture Smart: The Musical Scale Across Cultures

by Your friends at OIC on November 24, 2013

Children learning to play the violin, symbolizing the different musical scales across cultures

Learning to play different styles of music

Tonal Patterns and Changing Intervals

When you first learn to play an instrument, the first series of notes taught is called a scale. A scale is a series of ascending pitches, usually ending on the octave, the same note, at a higher pitch. Music from different cultures uses different intervals between the notes of an octave.

If you’ve seen The Sound of Music, you know the Western music major scale: do, re, mi, fa, so la, ti, do. It consists of 7 unique notes, with the 8^th note being the octave. Listen to a C Major Scale:

In the Middle East, the scale is also 7 unique pitches plus the octave, but it differs by several notes from the Western scale. A common song using the Middle Eastern scale is Hava Nagila. Listen to a C Middle Eastern scale:

Unlike the other two, the Chinese scale has only 5 pitches. Most Chinese folk tunes can be played using just the black keys on the keyboard. Listen to a C Chinese Scale:

Starting on C, the middle key of the piano, typically called Middle C, this chart shows the actual notes played on each scale:

There are several theories on why different musical scales were devised in different cultures. One is that scales are derived from the sounds made by the language spoken and the tonality of pronunciation. Another has to do with religion and superstition determining the number of notes (5 being lucky in Asian culture and 7 in Greek) and the intervals.

Hear music from all over the world at the World Music Network.

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Image © iStockphoto

Your friends at OIC Comments

China/Cultural Diversity/Middle East/The World's Music

Jul

Personal Growth Inspired by Ramadan

by Janine Boylan on July 18, 2013

reading the Quran during Ramadan, illustrating cultural traditions

Learning From Cultural Traditions

The month-long observation of Ramadan began earlier in July, when the thin crescent of the new moon was spotted. This celebration is particularly important to Muslims because it is believed that the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. This month, known as “Ramadan,” lent its name to the holy celebration.

Janine Boylan Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Middle East

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Category Archives: Middle East

Culture Smart: The Musical Scale Across Cultures

Tonal Patterns and Changing Intervals

Image © iStockphoto

Personal Growth Inspired by Ramadan

Learning From Cultural Traditions