Chromatic scale

The chromatic scale is any musical scale that contains more than one consecutive half-step (in other words two adjacent pairs of scale degrees or members which are separated by a semitone). However, the term usually refers specifically to the scale that contains all twelve pitches of the Western tempered scale, discussed in this article. All of the other scales in traditional Western music are currently subsets of this scale. Each pitch is separated from its upper and lower neighbors by the interval of one half step, or semitone. In tonal and other music this scale finds little use outside of decorative runs up or down as it has no harmonic direction and is considered cliched. The term 'chromatic' is understood by musicians to refer to music which includes tones which are not members of the prevailing scale, and also as a word descriptive of those individually non-diatonic tones.

Terminology and history

The Greeks analyzed genera using various terms, including diatonic, enharmonic, and chromatic, the latter being the color between the two other types of modes which were seen as being black and white. The chromatic genus contained a minor third on top and two semitones at the bottom filling in the perfect fourth of the fixed outer strings. However, the closest term used by the Greeks to our modern usage of chromatic is pyknon or the density ("condensation") of chromatic or enharmonic genera.

Related Topics:
Genera - Diatonic - Enharmonic - Color - Minor third - Semitone - Perfect fourth - Pyknon - Density - Condensation

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