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PITCH: MELODY, INTERVALS & SCALES

MELODY

Pitch is the quality of sound that depends on the wave frequency and allows us to distinguish between low and high sounds. We represent different pitches in scores by means of musical notes.

Melody is a succession of sounds with different pitches and durations.

  • Range: is the distance between lowest and highest note of a melody. It can be narrow, as in children’s songs or wide.

  • Melodic line or contour: is the shape of the melody. It can be obtained by joining all the noteheads of a melody with a line.

Birds On The Wires

Melody maker

Types of melodic lines​

  1. Flat melody: melody that hardly moves either up or down and it uses repeated notes.

  2. Ascending melody: melody that goes from low to high sounds.

  3. Descending melody: melody that goes from high to low sounds.

  4. Arch melody: melody that goes from low to high sounds and returns to low sounds or vice versa.

  5. Undulating melody: melody that moves up and down in small intervals, creating a wave-like pattern.

  6. Zig zag melody: melody that moves up and down in wide intervals, creating peaks.

Vivaldi - Autumn
(Flat melody)

R. Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra
(Ascending melody)

Pachelbel - Canon
(Descending melody)

Mozart - 12 Variations K. 265
(Arch melody)

Grieg - Morning Mood
(Undulating melody)

Mozart - Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525
(Zig zag melody)

Which is the predominant type of melodic line?

Bizet – Habanera (Carmen)

Beethoven – Symphony n. 7 II. Allegretto

INTERVALS

Interval is the distance between any two notes. We obtain the name of the interval by counting the number of notes it covers, from the first to the last. For example, the interval between do and mi is a third (do-1, re-2, mi-3).

Types of intervals

  1. Melodic interval: interval in which both notes sound successively (one after another); they are written horizontally.

  2. Harmonic interval: interval in which both notes sound simultaneously (at the same time); they are written vertically.

  3. Ascending interval: interval in which the first note is lower than the second note.

  4. Descending interval: interval in which the first note is higher than the second note.

  5. Conjunct interval: interval in which both notes are consecutive steps in a scale.

  6. Disjunct interval: interval in which both notes are not consecutive steps in a scale.

  7. Simple interval: interval in which the distance between both notes does not exceed an octave.

  8. Compound interval: interval in which the distance between both notes exceeds an octave.

Tones and semitones

Occidental music divides the octave into 12 semitones. The semitone or half step is the smallest distance between any two notes. There is a semitone between any two adjacent keys on the piano. One tone or whole step equals two semitones.
Other musical traditions divide the octave into microtones. E.g. Arabic music and Turkish music divide the octave into 24 quarter tones and Indian music divide the octave into 22 shrutis. Microtonal music often sounds strange to our ears.

Virtual piano

SCALES

Scale is the ordered succession of ascending or descending sounds. All melodies are made within a certain system of scales. Different cultures use different scales.
 

Types of scales​

  • The diatonic scale is a seven note scale made up of 5 tones and 2 semitones. Depending on the distribution of tones and semitones, diatonic scales can be major or minor. Do major (DoM) is the model for major scale and La minor (Lam) is the model for minor scale. It is the most common scale in Western music.

  • The chromatic scale is a twelve note scale made up of 12 semitones.

  • The pentatonic scale is a five note scale that avoids semitones, made up of 3 tones and two groups of tone and semitone. It is typical of Oriental music, blues and rock.

Flats, naturals and sharps

These are musical signs that modify the pitch of the notes.

  • â™­ Flat: musical sign that lowers the pitch of the note one semitone.

  • â™® Natural: musical sign that cancels the effect of a sharp and a flat, restoring the note to its natural pitch.

  • ♯ Sharp: musical sign that raises the pitch of the note one semitone.

Where can we find them?

  • If they are in the key signature at the beginning of the staff, they affect the notes of the same name throughout the entire composition.

  • If they are before a note, they are called accidentals and they affect the notes of the same name in the same bar.


 

ACTIVITIES

1. Indicate the type of each melodic line. Listen and identify the order in which they sound.

2. Name the following intervals and mark with an X the types.

3. Write the indicated harmonic interval above the given note.

REVIEW AND SELF-ASSESSMENT
Quizlet

LEARN MORE

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