The yo scale is a pentatonic scale used in much Japanese music including gagaku and shomyo.[1] It is similar to the Dorian, but does not contain minor notes. The yo scale is used specifically in folk songs and early popular songs and is contrasted with the in scale which does contain minor notes.[2] The in scale is described as more 'dark' while the yo scale is described as 'bright' sounding.[3]
It is defined by ascending intervals[clarification needed] of two, three, two, two, and three semitones. An example yo scale, expressed in western pitch names, is: D - E - G - A - B. This is illustrated below.
The Ryūkyū scale appears to be derived from the yo scale with pitches raised.[4]
Yo scale on D with auxiliary notes (F) & (C) (Play)Yo scale on D, ascending and descending
More recent theory[5] emphasizes that it is more useful in interpreting Japanese melody to view scales on the basis of "nuclear tones" located a fourth apart and containing notes between them, as in the min'yō scale used in folk music, and whose pitches are equivalent to the second mode of the yo scale:[6]
1 2 Minoru Miki, Marty Regan, Philip Flavin (2008). Composing for Japanese instruments, p.2. ISBN978-1-58046-273-0.
↑ Koizumi, Fumio (小泉文夫, Koizumi Fumio) (1974). Nihon no Ongaku: Rekishi to Riron (日本の音楽：歴史と理論) (Japanese Music: History and Theory), 76. Tokyo: National Theater of Japan.
In music theory, the term mode or modus is used in a number of distinct senses, depending on context.
In music theory, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale.
In music theory, the key of a piece is the group of pitches, or scale, that forms the basis of a musical composition in Western classical music, art music, and pop music.
Tonality or key: Music which uses the notes of a particular scale is said to be "in the key of" that scale or in the tonality of that scale.
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave.
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical context.
A raga is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a melodic mode. Rāga is central to classical Indian music and a unique feature of the tradition: no equivalent concept exists in Western classical music. Each rāga consists of an array of melodic structures with musical motifs; and, from the perspective of the Indian tradition, the resulting music has the ability to "colour the mind" as it engages the emotions of the audience.
Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions, and directionality. In this hierarchy the single pitch or triad with the greatest stability is called the tonic. The root of the tonic triad forms the name given to the key, so in the key of C major the tone C can be both the tonic of the scale and the root of the tonic triad. The tonic can be a different tone in the same scale, when the work is said to be in one of the modes of the scale.
Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to three very different but interrelated subjects: one of the Ancient Greek harmoniai ; one of the medieval musical modes; or—most commonly—one of the modern modal diatonic scales, corresponding to the piano keyboard's white notes from D to D, or any transposition of itself.
Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek harmoniai or tonoi, based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; or a modern musical mode or diatonic scale, related to the medieval mode.
The modern Lydian mode is a seven-tone musical scale formed from a rising pattern of pitches comprising three whole tones, a semitone, two more whole tones, and a final semitone.
In music theory, the harmonic major scale is a musical scale found in some music from the common practice era and now used occasionally, most often in jazz. In George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept it is the fifth mode (V) of the Lydian Diminished scale. It corresponds to the Raga Sarasangi in Indian Carnatic music, or Raag Nat Bhairav in Hindustani music.
The Japanese mode is a pentatonic musical scale commonly used in traditional Japanese music. The intervals of the scale are major second, minor third, perfect fifth and minor sixth, essentially a natural minor scale in Western music theory without the subdominant and subtonic, the same operation performed on the major scale to produce the pentatonic major scale. The more correct term would be kumoijoshi, as given by William P. Malm for one of the three tuning scales of the koto adapted from shamisen music.
The double harmonic major scale is a musical scale with a flattened second and sixth degree. This scale is enharmonic to the Mayamalavagowla raga, Bhairav raga, Byzantine scale, Arabic scale, and Gypsy major scale. It can be likened to a gypsy scale because of the diminished step between the 1st and 2nd degrees. Arabic scale may also refer to any Arabic mode, the simplest of which, however, to Westerners, resembles the double harmonic major scale.
The Hungarian minor scale, double harmonic minor scale, or Gypsy minor scale is a type of combined musical scale. It is the fourth mode of the double harmonic scale. It is the same as the harmonic minor scale, except that it has a raised fourth scale degree to introduce an additional gap, or augmented second. It is a symmetrical scale with a slightly ambiguous tonal centre, due to the many half steps.
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, especially when applied to contrasting features of the common practice music of the period 1600–1900.
The in scale is, according to a traditional theory, one of two pentatonic scales used in much Japanese music, excluding gagaku and Buddhist shōmyō. The in scale, which contains minor notes, is used specifically in music for the koto and shamisen and is contrasted with the yo scale, which does not contain minor notes.
In music, the major Neapolitan scale and the minor Neapolitan scale are two musical scales. Both scales are minor, in that they both contain a minor third above the root. The major and minor Neapolitan scales are instead differentiated by the quality of their sixth.
A ditonic scale is a musical scale or mode with two notes per octave. This is in contrast to a heptatonic (seven-note) scale such as the major scale and minor scale, or a dodecatonic scale, both common in modern Western music. Ethnomusicologist Bruno Nettl noted that ditonic scales were common in many parts of the world but often limited to specific music types, such as children's songs, with the exception of some tribal societies.
A variety of musical scales are used in traditional Japanese music. While the Chinese Shí-èr-lǜ has influenced Japanese music since the Heian period, in practice Japanese traditional music is often based on pentatonic or heptatonic scales. In some instances, harmonic minor is used, while the melodic minor is virtually unused.
Musicology commonly classifies scales as either hemitonic or anhemitonic. Hemitonic scales contain one or more semitones, while anhemitonic scales do not contain semitones. For example, in traditional Japanese music, the anhemitonic yo scale is contrasted with the hemitonic in scale. The simplest and most commonly used scale in the world is the atritonic anhemitonic "major" pentatonic scale. The whole tone scale is also anhemitonic.
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