The Major Scale

Abstract

The Major Scale, also known as the Ionian Mode, is the most popular scale used in composition or recording music scores into the performance by singing or using musical instruments to convey. A major scale has a 5-line hierarchy of pitches, with a diatonic movement from low pitches to high pitches in an ascending order and from descending pitches. However, the major scale has different levels of pitches as marked with a sharp and a flat. It also has a combined structure of 2 parts which are Major Tetrachord and Major Tetrachord. The pitch in the major scale consists of 1 full pitch of 5 intervals, which is a hierarchy of 1 – 2 (C - D), 2 – 3 (D - E), 4 – 5 (F - G), 5 – 6 (G - A), and half pitch of 2 intervals, which is a hierarchy of 3-4 (E-F) and 7-8 (B-C).

The pitch in a major scale is marked with a sharp or a flat inflection on the 5 lines.