"Musika" Composed/Arranged by Bem Orchestrator
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Non diatonic Scales

- these are scales that does not observe the interval sequence of a diatonic or a pentatonic scale.
- many of these scales have non identifiable tonic















Chromatic Scale


- this non diatonic scale consist mainly of half-step intervals.
- each tone is equidistant from the next
- the term chromatic also means colored tones, not because it has a visual color but an aural color referring to the certain character of each tone.

















Ascending and Descending Chromatic Scale













Note: In a diatonic scale (major or minor) sometimes the use of accidentals employ the use of the chromatic scale, and although all of the 12 tones of a chromatic scale may appear, the tonal characteristic of a scale of the diatonic scale is maintained.





Whole Tone Scale


- this is a 6 tone scale made up of whole steps between adjacent notes












Blues Scale


- this scale is a variant of the major scale with a flat third and a flat 7th degree alternating with the natural 3rd and the natural 7th degree of the major scale.
- this is termed as the blue scale because of its characteristic to inflect a blue feeling (that's how most describe it)












Again the discussion on the topic of blues scale is barely introductory and we will give time to this in future discussions.



Non-Western Scales


- other cultures in the world have many non diatonic scales in their music, it would be really frustrating to discuss them all at once so I am giving just one example.












Octatonic or Diminished Scale


- is an eight-note scale composed of alternating whole and half steps
- jazz musicians call this the diminished scale because the the chords from this scale's pitches are diminished






To be honest, there are tons of non diatonic scales we can find in music and I don't exactly know them all, this post is just to give you guys an idea what separates these scales from our diatonic scale. 


The whole objective of this discussion is to give awareness to the student about the existence of non diatonic scales.

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