Lesson 3
Scales/
Major scales

Practice Drills
scale building
ID major keys
WriteKeysig
PDF Drills L3

Assignments

Creative
Project

 

 

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9

Sample exercises

Procedures for completing various exercises related to Lesson 3 follow. Click on the exercise of your choice, or go through each, one after another.

• Construct a major scale using accidentals

• Given a pitch and scale degree, construct a major scale



Procedure for constructing a major scale

Problem: Construct an Eb major scale
     
1. Write 8 noteheads on the staff beginning and ending with Eb, one note for each line and space.  It is important that each note has a different letter name, and that no letters are skipped.  Leave space between noteheads to allow room for accidentals that might need to be added.
 
2. Number the scale degrees and mark the location of where the (diatonic) half steps ought to be located in a major scale.  Remember, all other steps will be whole steps.
 
3. Beginning at the bottom of the scale, check each step (with a keyboard) to see if the necessary interval (half or whole step) exists. As you proceed, alter the upper note of each step as the need arises to produce the correct interval.
 
Eb to F:
(1-2)
is a whole step; no accidental is necessary
F to G:
(2-3)
is a whole step; no accidental is necessary
G to A:
(3-4)
is a whole step, but should be a half step.  A half step above G is G#/Ab.  Because a letter name (line/space) cannot be used twice, the fourth degree of this scale must be Ab.  Also, A is the upper note that must be altered; therefore the G (third pitch) cannot be changed to G# in order to create the half step.
 
Ab to B:
(4-5)
is now one whole and one half steps, but should be only one whole step.  The upper pitch B needs to be lowered a half step to Bb to create the necessary whole step.
 
Bb to C:
(5-6):
is a whole step; no accidental is necessary
C to D:
(6-7)
is a whole step; no accidental is necessary
D to Eb:
(7-8)

is a half step; no accidental is necessary
4. Go back and check (with a keyboard) to see if the accidentals produced correct intervals throughout the scale.  Major scales contain only sharps or only flats; there should be no combination of sharps and flats in the same major scale.  Be sure the accidentals were added to the left of the notehead and on the correct line or space with the notehead.

Eb major scale

 
 

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Procedure for constructing a
major scale
from a
given pitch and scale degree

Problem: Given the following pitch and scale degree, write the complete major scale
 

The symbol "^" means "scale degree."  
^
4 refers to the fourth scale degree.

     
1. "B" is the fourth scale degree of what major scale?
 

(The key of F has one flat, B flat; therefore, B natural is the fourth scale degree of F sharp, not F.)

2. The key of F# major has 6 sharps, therefore the solution is:
 
 
OR, using a key signature rather than accidentals:
 

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