Learning Objectives
- Define the major scale as a diatonic scale with a particular pattern of whole and half steps.
- Define the term scale degree and learn about the important role of the tonic scale degree.
- Learn the C major scale.
Scales III: The Major Scale
Definition
A major scale is a seven-note diatonic scale with a specific pattern of whole and half steps. As we have learned, diatonic scales do not repeat or skip any letter names. The scale of C Major, for example, is spelled with the letter names C, D, E, F, G, A, and B (as shown below). The last note C is a repetition of the first one, an octave higher. It is not considered to be a new note in the scale, but it completes the scale by returning to the initial note.
Scale Degrees
The steps in a scale are known as scale degrees. A major scale has seven scale degrees in it: scale degree one, scale degree two, scale degree three, and so on, as labeled in the example above. (The ^ sign above the numbers is commonly used above scale degree numbers.) Scale degree 1, representing the pitch that starts and ends the scale, is also known as the tonic. All scales are named after their tonics. For example, the C major scale is called a C scale because it starts (and ends) on a C. Similarly, the first note of a D scale is a D, an E-flat scale starts on an E♭, and so on.
The Major Scale Pattern
The major scale has a specific pattern of whole and half steps. That pattern can be discovered by playing the C major scale on the keyboard. Play all of the white keys from C to C (in ascending order) on the virtual piano below: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. You will notice that half steps occur naturally between the E and the F and between the B and the C, since there are no black keys separating these white keys. All of the other steps in the scale are whole steps (C to D, D to E, F to G, G to A, and A to B).
Click this small keyboard icon below.
Keyboard x
There are thus five whole steps and two half steps in a major scale, and they occur in the following pattern:
Whole - Whole - Half - Whole - Whole - Whole - Half OR W W H W W W H
You should memorize this pattern now, because all major scales use this same pattern of whole and half steps. (If they did not follow this pattern, they would not be major scales.) If you can remember this pattern, you can spell any major scale. The interactive example below will help you to memorize the distribution of whole (W) and half steps (H) in the major scale. Click on "Show Me" to see and hear the scale played. Note particularly that the two half steps in the scale occur between scale degrees 3 and 4 and between scale degrees 7 and 8 (or 1). You can also click on a W or a H in the example to hear the difference between whole and half steps in the scale.
The Major Scale Pattern
| Whole- and half-step pattern in the major scale |
| Remember |
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Notice how the whole tone (W) between scale degrees 4 and 5 in the example above divides the scale into two equal halves of four notes each (these four-note groups are called tetrachords). The green W represents the whole step that separates the scale into two equal tetrachord patterns: WWH. Thinking of these WWH tetrachord groups is another way to help you remember the major scale pattern.
The Key of C major
A composition that is based on the scale of C Major is said to be in the key of C Major. In other words, most (if not all) of the notes in a piece that is in the key of C major will come from the the C major scale. Here is an example:
Joy to the World
Joy To The World by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) illustrates a short composition in the key of C major.
Notice that this piece:
- starts and ends on a C
- starts with a descending C major scale
- uses all the notes in the scale of C major
- does not use any notes that are NOT in the key of C major
- uses the tonic note C to emphasize important words like "joy," "king," "heaven," and "sing"