Diatonic and chromatic
Encyclopedia
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory
that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to 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.
These terms may mean different things in different contexts. Very often, diatonic refers to musical elements derived from the modes and transpositions of the "white note scale" C–D–E–F–G–A–B (see details below). In some usages it includes all forms of heptatonic scale that are in common use in Western music (the major, and all forms of the minor). Chromatic refers to structures derived from the chromatic scale
, which consists of all semitones.
intervals at the bottom: A G F
from the 14th century, this was used to indicate a temporary change in metre from triple to duple, or vice versa. This usage became less common in the 15th century as open white noteheads became the standard notational form for minims (half-notes) and longer notes (see white mensural notation
). Similarly, in the 16th century, notation in a 4/4 time signature was referred to as "chromatic" notation because of its abundance of "coloured in" black notes, that is semiminims (crotchets or quarter notes) and shorter notes, as opposed to the open white notes of the more common 2/2 metre. These uses for the word have no relationship to the modern meaning of chromatic, but the sense survives in the current term coloratura
.
's Prophetiae Sibyllarum opens with a prologue proclaiming, "these chromatic songs, heard in modulation, are those in which the mysteries of the Sibyls are sung, intrepidly," which here takes its modern meaning referring to the frequent change of key and use of chromatic intervals in the work. (The Prophetiae belonged to an experimental musical movement of the time, called musica reservata
). This usage comes from a renewed interest in the Greek genera, especially its chromatic tetrachord, notably by the influential theorist Nicola Vicentino
in his treatise on ancient and modern practice, 1555.
Medieval theorists defined scales in terms of the Greek tetrachords. The gamut
was the series of pitches from which all the Medieval "scales" (or modes, strictly) are notionally derived, and it may be thought of as constructed in a certain way from diatonic tetrachords. The origin of the word gamut is explained at the article Hexachord
; here the word is used in one of the available senses: the all-encompassing gamut as described by Guido d'Arezzo (which includes all of the modes).
The intervals
from one note to the next in this Medieval gamut are all tones or semitones, recurring in a certain pattern with five tones (T) and two semitones (S) in any given octave
. The semitones are separated as much as they can be, between alternating groups of three tones and two tones. Here are the intervals for a random string of ascending notes (starting with F, in fact) from the gamut:
And here are the intervals for one random ascending octave (the seven intervals separating the eight notes A–B–C–D–E–F–G–A, in fact) from the gamut:
In its most strict definition, therefore, a diatonic scale is one that may be derived from the pitches represented in successive white keys of the piano (or a transposition
thereof): the modern equivalent of the gamut. (For simplicity, throughout this article equal temperament
tuning is assumed unless otherwise noted.) This would include the major scale
, and the natural minor scale
(same as the descending form of the melodic minor), but not the old ecclesiastical church modes, most of which included both versions of the "variable" note B/B.
, and later music that shares its core features.
All writers accept the major scale
as diatonic. Most, but not all, accept the natural minor (and the descending melodic minor) as diatonic. As for other forms of the minor:
For print sources employing each of these usages (for scales, and derived usages for intervals, etc.), see the list of sources, below.
There are a few other meanings of the term diatonic scale, some of which take the extension to harmonic and melodic minor even further, to be even more inclusive.
In general, diatonic is most often used inclusively with respect to music that restricts itself to standard uses of traditional major and minor scales. When discussing music that uses a larger variety of scales and modes (including much jazz, rock, and some tonal 20th-century concert music), writers often adopt the exclusive use to prevent confusion.
A chromatic scale consists of an ascending or descending sequence of pitches proceeding always by semitones. Such a sequence of pitches would, for example, be produced by playing black and white keys of a piano in order, without leaving any out. The structure of a chromatic scale is therefore uniform throughout, unlike major and minor scales which have tones and semitones in particular arrangements (and an augmented second, in the harmonic minor).
are usually understood as those between some pair of notes both drawn from the same diatonic scale. Intervals that cannot be so derived are then called chromatic intervals (Of relevance in searching for the term chromatic interval, note that the phrase has distinct meanings outside of music theory.) Because diatonic scale is itself ambiguous, this way of distinguishing intervals is also ambiguous. For example, the interval B–E (a diminished fourth
, occurring in C harmonic minor) is considered diatonic if the harmonic minor scale is considered diatonic; but it is considered chromatic if the harmonic minor scale is not considered diatonic.
Additionally, the label chromatic or diatonic for an interval may be sensitive to context. For instance, in a passage in C major, the interval C–E could be considered a chromatic interval because it does not appear in the prevailing diatonic key; conversely in C minor it would be diatonic. This usage is still subject to the categorization of scales as above, e.g. in the B–E example above, classification would still depend on whether the harmonic minor scale is considered diatonic.
, there is no difference in tuning (and therefore in sound) between intervals that are enharmonic
ally equivalent. For example, the notes F and E represent exactly the same pitch, so the diatonic interval C–F (a perfect fourth) sounds exactly the same as its enharmonic equivalent—the chromatic interval C–E (an augmented third).
In systems other than equal temperament
, however, there is often a difference in tuning between intervals that are enharmonically equivalent. In tuning systems that are based on a cycle of fifths, such as Pythagorean tuning
and meantone temperament
, these alternatives are labelled as diatonic or chromatic intervals. Under these systems the cycle of fifths is not circular in the sense that a pitch at one end of the cycle (e.g., G) is not tuned the same as the enharmonic
equivalent at its other end (A); they are different by an amount known as a comma
.
This broken cycle causes intervals that cross the break to be written as augmented or diminished chromatic intervals. In meantone temperament, for instance, chromatic semitone
s (E–E) are smaller than diatonic semitones (E–F), and with consonant
intervals such as the major third the enharmonic equivalent is generally less consonant.
The exception to this classification is the tritone
, of which both enharmonic forms (e.g., C–F and C–G) are equally distant along the cycle of fifths, making them inversions
of each other at the octave. Because of this the ambiguity cannot be resolved where octave equivalence is assumed, and the label diatonic or chromatic for either form of tritone is not useful in the context of tuning (the choice is arbitrary, and therefore unspecific).
If the tritone is assumed diatonic, the classification of written intervals by this definition is not significantly different from the "drawn from the same diatonic scale" definition given above as long as the harmonic minor and ascending melodic minor scale variants are not included. Aside from tritones, all intervals that are either augmented or diminished are chromatic, and the rest are diatonic.
are generally understood as those that are built using only notes from the same diatonic scale; all other chords are considered chromatic. However, given the ambiguity of diatonic scale, this definition, too, is ambiguous. And for some theorists, chords are only ever diatonic in a relative sense: the augmented triad
E–G–B is diatonic "to" or "in" C minor. On this understanding, the diminished seventh chord
built on the leading note is accepted as diatonic in minor keys. If the strictest understanding of the term diatonic scale is adhered to - whereby only transposed 'white note scales' are considered diatonic - even a major triad on the dominant scale degree in C minor (G–B–D) would be chromatic or altered in C minor. Some writers use the phrase "diatonic to" as a synonym for "belonging to". Therefore a chord can be said to be diatonic if its notes belong to the underlying diatonic scale of the key.
:
However,
The term diatonic progression is used in two senses:
of pitches. A particular subset of seven pitch class
es is selected from a superset of twelve semitonally incrementing pitch classes, to yield a particular heptatonic scale. Exactly which heptatonic scales (and even which modes of those scales) should count as diatonic is unsettled, as shown above. But the broad selection principle itself is not disputed, at least as a theoretical convenience.
, for example. Some selection or other is made from an underlying superset of metrical beat
s, to produce a "diatonic" rhythmic "scale" embedded in an underlying metrical "matrix". Some of these selections are diatonic in a way similar to the traditional diatonic selections of pitch classes (that is, a selection of seven beats from a matrix of twelve beats – perhaps even in groupings that match the tone-and-semitone groupings of diatonic scales). But the principle may also be applied with even more generality (including even any selection from a matrix of beats of any size).
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to intervals
Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
, chords
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
, notes
NOTES
Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery is an experimental surgical technique whereby "scarless" abdominal operations can be performed with an endoscope passed through a natural orifice then through an internal incision in the stomach, vagina, bladder or colon, thus avoiding any external...
, musical styles, and kinds of harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
. They are very often used as a pair, especially when applied to contrasting features of the common practice
Common practice period
The common practice period, in the history of Western art music , spanning the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, lasted from c. 1600 to c. 1900.-General characteristics:...
music of the period 1600–1900.
These terms may mean different things in different contexts. Very often, diatonic refers to musical elements derived from the modes and transpositions of the "white note scale" C–D–E–F–G–A–B (see details below). In some usages it includes all forms of heptatonic scale that are in common use in Western music (the major, and all forms of the minor). Chromatic refers to structures derived from the chromatic scale
Chromatic scale
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...
, which consists of all semitones.
History
Greek genera
In ancient Greece there were three standard tunings (known by the Latin word genus, plural genera) of a lyre. These three tunings were called diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic, and the sequences of four notes that they produced were called tetrachords ("four strings"). A diatonic tetrachord comprised, in descending order, two whole tones and a semitone, such as A G F E (roughly). In the chromatic tetrachord the second string of the lyre was lowered from G to G, so that the two lower intervals in the tetrachord were semitones, making the pitches A G F E. In the enharmonic tetrachord the tuning had two quarter toneQuarter tone
A quarter tone , is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale, an interval about half as wide as a semitone, which is half a whole tone....
intervals at the bottom: A G F
Medieval coloration
The term cromatico (Italian) was occasionally used in the Medieval and Renaissance periods to refer to the coloration (Latin coloratio) of certain notes. The details vary widely by period and place, but generally the addition of a colour (often red) to an empty or filled head of a note, or the "colouring in" of an otherwise empty head of a note, shortens the duration of the note. In works of the Ars NovaArs nova
Ars nova refers to a musical style which flourished in France and the Burgundian Low Countries in the Late Middle Ages: more particularly, in the period between the preparation of the Roman de Fauvel and the death of the composer Guillaume de Machaut in 1377...
from the 14th century, this was used to indicate a temporary change in metre from triple to duple, or vice versa. This usage became less common in the 15th century as open white noteheads became the standard notational form for minims (half-notes) and longer notes (see white mensural notation
Mensural notation
Mensural notation is the musical notation system which was used in European music from the later part of the 13th century until about 1600."Mensural" refers to the ability of this system to notate complex rhythms with great exactness and flexibility...
). Similarly, in the 16th century, notation in a 4/4 time signature was referred to as "chromatic" notation because of its abundance of "coloured in" black notes, that is semiminims (crotchets or quarter notes) and shorter notes, as opposed to the open white notes of the more common 2/2 metre. These uses for the word have no relationship to the modern meaning of chromatic, but the sense survives in the current term coloratura
Coloratura
Coloratura has several meanings. The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare . When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and...
.
Renaissance chromaticism
The term chromatic began to approach its modern usage in the 16th century. For instance Orlando LassoOrlande de Lassus
Orlande de Lassus was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance...
's Prophetiae Sibyllarum opens with a prologue proclaiming, "these chromatic songs, heard in modulation, are those in which the mysteries of the Sibyls are sung, intrepidly," which here takes its modern meaning referring to the frequent change of key and use of chromatic intervals in the work. (The Prophetiae belonged to an experimental musical movement of the time, called musica reservata
Musica reservata
In music history, musica reservata is either a style or a performance practice in a cappella vocal music of the latter half of the 16th century, mainly in Italy and southern Germany, involving refinement, exclusivity, and intense emotional expression of sung text.The exact meaning, which appears...
). This usage comes from a renewed interest in the Greek genera, especially its chromatic tetrachord, notably by the influential theorist Nicola Vicentino
Nicola Vicentino
Nicola Vicentino was an Italian music theorist and composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most visionary musicians of the age, inventing, among other things, a microtonal keyboard, and devising a practical system of chromatic writing two hundred years before the rise of equal...
in his treatise on ancient and modern practice, 1555.
Diatonic scales
Gamut
In color reproduction, including computer graphics and photography, the gamut, or color gamut , is a certain complete subset of colors. The most common usage refers to the subset of colors which can be accurately represented in a given circumstance, such as within a given color space or by a...
was the series of pitches from which all the Medieval "scales" (or modes, strictly) are notionally derived, and it may be thought of as constructed in a certain way from diatonic tetrachords. The origin of the word gamut is explained at the article Hexachord
Guidonian hand
In Medieval music, the Guidonian hand was a mnemonic device used to assist singers in learning to sight-sing. Some form of the device may have been used by Guido of Arezzo, a medieval music theorist who wrote a number of treatises, including one instructing singers in sightreading...
; here the word is used in one of the available senses: the all-encompassing gamut as described by Guido d'Arezzo (which includes all of the modes).
The intervals
Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
from one note to the next in this Medieval gamut are all tones or semitones, recurring in a certain pattern with five tones (T) and two semitones (S) in any given octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
. The semitones are separated as much as they can be, between alternating groups of three tones and two tones. Here are the intervals for a random string of ascending notes (starting with F, in fact) from the gamut:
... –T–T–T–S–T–T–S–T–T–T–S–T– ...
And here are the intervals for one random ascending octave (the seven intervals separating the eight notes A–B–C–D–E–F–G–A, in fact) from the gamut:
T–S–T–T–S–T–T [five tones and two semitones]
In its most strict definition, therefore, a diatonic scale is one that may be derived from the pitches represented in successive white keys of the piano (or a transposition
Transposition (music)
In music transposition refers to the process, or operation, of moving a collection of notes up or down in pitch by a constant interval.For example, one might transpose an entire piece of music into another key...
thereof): the modern equivalent of the gamut. (For simplicity, throughout this article equal temperament
Equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning, in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. As pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency, this means that the perceived "distance" from every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for...
tuning is assumed unless otherwise noted.) This would include the major scale
Major scale
In music theory, the major scale or Ionian scale is one of the diatonic scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher. In solfege these notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti/Si, ", the "Do" in the parenthesis at...
, and the natural minor scale
Minor scale
A minor scale in Western music theory includes any scale that contains, in its tonic triad, at least three essential scale degrees: 1) the tonic , 2) a minor-third, or an interval of a minor third above the tonic, and 3) a perfect-fifth, or an interval of a perfect fifth above the tonic, altogether...
(same as the descending form of the melodic minor), but not the old ecclesiastical church modes, most of which included both versions of the "variable" note B/B.
Modern meanings
There are specific applications in the music of the Common Practice PeriodCommon practice period
The common practice period, in the history of Western art music , spanning the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, lasted from c. 1600 to c. 1900.-General characteristics:...
, and later music that shares its core features.
All writers accept the major scale
Major scale
In music theory, the major scale or Ionian scale is one of the diatonic scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher. In solfege these notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti/Si, ", the "Do" in the parenthesis at...
as diatonic. Most, but not all, accept the natural minor (and the descending melodic minor) as diatonic. As for other forms of the minor:
- "Exclusive" usage
- Some writers consistently classify the other variants of the minor scale – the melodic minor (ascending form) and the harmonic minor – as non-diatonic, since they are not transpositions of the white-note pitches of the piano. Among such theorists there is no agreed general term that encompasses the major and all forms of the minor scale.
- "Inclusive" usage
- Some writers consistently include the melodic and harmonic minor scales as diatonic also. For this group, every scale standardly used in common practice music and much similar later music is either diatonic (the major, and all forms of the minor) or chromatic.
- "Mixed" usage
- Still other writers mix these two meanings of diatonic (and conversely for chromatic), and this may lead to confusions and misconceptions. Sometimes, though not always, the context makes it clear which meaning is intended.
For print sources employing each of these usages (for scales, and derived usages for intervals, etc.), see the list of sources, below.
There are a few other meanings of the term diatonic scale, some of which take the extension to harmonic and melodic minor even further, to be even more inclusive.
In general, diatonic is most often used inclusively with respect to music that restricts itself to standard uses of traditional major and minor scales. When discussing music that uses a larger variety of scales and modes (including much jazz, rock, and some tonal 20th-century concert music), writers often adopt the exclusive use to prevent confusion.
Chromatic scale
Intervals
The diatonic intervalsInterval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
are usually understood as those between some pair of notes both drawn from the same diatonic scale. Intervals that cannot be so derived are then called chromatic intervals (Of relevance in searching for the term chromatic interval, note that the phrase has distinct meanings outside of music theory.) Because diatonic scale is itself ambiguous, this way of distinguishing intervals is also ambiguous. For example, the interval B–E (a diminished fourth
Diminished fourth
In classical music from Western culture, a diminished fourth is an interval produced by narrowing a perfect fourth by a chromatic semitone. For example, the interval from C to F is a perfect fourth, five semitones wide, and both the intervals from C to F, and from C to F are diminished fourths,...
, occurring in C harmonic minor) is considered diatonic if the harmonic minor scale is considered diatonic; but it is considered chromatic if the harmonic minor scale is not considered diatonic.
Additionally, the label chromatic or diatonic for an interval may be sensitive to context. For instance, in a passage in C major, the interval C–E could be considered a chromatic interval because it does not appear in the prevailing diatonic key; conversely in C minor it would be diatonic. This usage is still subject to the categorization of scales as above, e.g. in the B–E example above, classification would still depend on whether the harmonic minor scale is considered diatonic.
In different systems of tuning
In equal temperamentEqual temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning, in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. As pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency, this means that the perceived "distance" from every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for...
, there is no difference in tuning (and therefore in sound) between intervals that are enharmonic
Enharmonic
In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note , interval , or key signature which is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature, but "spelled", or named, differently...
ally equivalent. For example, the notes F and E represent exactly the same pitch, so the diatonic interval C–F (a perfect fourth) sounds exactly the same as its enharmonic equivalent—the chromatic interval C–E (an augmented third).
In systems other than equal temperament
Equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning, in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. As pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency, this means that the perceived "distance" from every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for...
, however, there is often a difference in tuning between intervals that are enharmonically equivalent. In tuning systems that are based on a cycle of fifths, such as Pythagorean tuning
Pythagorean tuning
Pythagorean tuning is a system of musical tuning in which the frequency relationships of all intervals are based on the ratio 3:2. This interval is chosen because it is one of the most consonant...
and meantone temperament
Meantone temperament
Meantone temperament is a musical temperament, which is a system of musical tuning. In general, a meantone is constructed the same way as Pythagorean tuning, as a stack of perfect fifths, but in meantone, each fifth is narrow compared to the ratio 27/12:1 in 12 equal temperament, the opposite of...
, these alternatives are labelled as diatonic or chromatic intervals. Under these systems the cycle of fifths is not circular in the sense that a pitch at one end of the cycle (e.g., G) is not tuned the same as the enharmonic
Enharmonic
In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note , interval , or key signature which is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature, but "spelled", or named, differently...
equivalent at its other end (A); they are different by an amount known as a comma
Comma (music)
In music theory, a comma is a minute interval, the difference resulting from tuning one note two different ways. The word "comma" used without qualification refers to the syntonic comma, which can be defined, for instance, as the difference between an F tuned using the D-based Pythagorean tuning...
.
This broken cycle causes intervals that cross the break to be written as augmented or diminished chromatic intervals. In meantone temperament, for instance, chromatic semitone
Semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically....
s (E–E) are smaller than diatonic semitones (E–F), and with consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
intervals such as the major third the enharmonic equivalent is generally less consonant.
The exception to this classification is the tritone
Tritone
In classical music from Western culture, the tritone |tone]]) is traditionally defined as a musical interval composed of three whole tones. In a chromatic scale, each whole tone can be further divided into two semitones...
, of which both enharmonic forms (e.g., C–F and C–G) are equally distant along the cycle of fifths, making them inversions
Inversion (music)
In music theory, the word inversion has several meanings. There are inverted chords, inverted melodies, inverted intervals, and inverted voices...
of each other at the octave. Because of this the ambiguity cannot be resolved where octave equivalence is assumed, and the label diatonic or chromatic for either form of tritone is not useful in the context of tuning (the choice is arbitrary, and therefore unspecific).
If the tritone is assumed diatonic, the classification of written intervals by this definition is not significantly different from the "drawn from the same diatonic scale" definition given above as long as the harmonic minor and ascending melodic minor scale variants are not included. Aside from tritones, all intervals that are either augmented or diminished are chromatic, and the rest are diatonic.
Chords
Diatonic chordsChord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
are generally understood as those that are built using only notes from the same diatonic scale; all other chords are considered chromatic. However, given the ambiguity of diatonic scale, this definition, too, is ambiguous. And for some theorists, chords are only ever diatonic in a relative sense: the augmented triad
Augmented triad
In music, an augmented triad is a triad, or chord, consisting of two major thirds . The term augmented triad arises from an augmented triad being a three note chord, or triad, whose top note is raised, or augmented...
E–G–B is diatonic "to" or "in" C minor. On this understanding, the diminished seventh chord
Diminished seventh chord
A diminished seventh chord is a four note chord that comprises a diminished triad plus the interval of a diminished seventh above the root. Thus it is , or enharmonically , of any major scale; for example, C diminished-seventh would be , or enharmonically...
built on the leading note is accepted as diatonic in minor keys. If the strictest understanding of the term diatonic scale is adhered to - whereby only transposed 'white note scales' are considered diatonic - even a major triad on the dominant scale degree in C minor (G–B–D) would be chromatic or altered in C minor. Some writers use the phrase "diatonic to" as a synonym for "belonging to". Therefore a chord can be said to be diatonic if its notes belong to the underlying diatonic scale of the key.
Harmony
The words diatonic and chromatic are also applied inconsistently to harmonyHarmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
:
- Often musicians call diatonic harmony any kind of harmony inside the major–minorMajor and minorIn Western music, the adjectives major and minor can describe a musical composition, movement, section, scale, key, chord, or interval.Major and minor are frequently referred to in the titles of classical compositions, especially in reference to the key of a piece.-Intervals and chords:With regard...
system of common practiceCommon practice periodThe common practice period, in the history of Western art music , spanning the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, lasted from c. 1600 to c. 1900.-General characteristics:...
. When diatonic harmony is understood in this sense, the supposed term chromatic harmony means little, because chromatic chords are also used in that same system. - At other times, especially in textbooks and syllabuses for musical composition or music theory, diatonic harmony means harmony that uses only "diatonic chords". According to this usage, chromatic harmony is then harmony that extends the available resources to include chromatic chords: the augmented sixthAugmented sixthIn classical music from Western culture, an augmented sixth is an interval produced by widening a major sixth by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from C to A is a major sixth, nine semitones wide, and both the intervals from C to A, and from C to A are augmented sixths, spanning...
chords, the Neapolitan sixth, chromatic seventh chords, etc. - Since the word harmony can be used of single classes of chords (dominant harmony, E minor harmony, for example), diatonic harmony and chromatic harmony can be used in this distinct way also.
However,
- Chromatic harmony may be defined as "the use of two successive chords which belong to two different keys and therefore contain tones represented by the same note symbols but with different accidentals". Four basic techniques produce chromatic harmony under this definition: modal interchange, secondary dominants, melodic tension, and chromatic mediants.
Inflection
The term chromatic inflection (alternatively spelt inflexion) is used in two senses:- Alteration of a note that makes it (or the harmony that includes it) chromatic rather than diatonic.
- Melodic movement between a diatonic note and a chromatically altered variant (from C to C in G major, or vice versa, for example).
Progression
The term chromatic progression is used in three senses:- Movement between harmonies that are not elements of any common diatonic system (that is, not of the same diatonic scale: movement from D–F–A to D–F–A, for example).
- The same as the second sense of chromatic inflection, above.
- In musica fictaMusica fictaMusica ficta was a term used in European music theory from the late 12th century to about 1600 to describe any pitches, whether notated or to be added by performers in accordance with their training, that lie outside the system of musica recta or musica vera as defined by the hexachord system of...
and similar contexts, a melodic fragment that includes a chromatic semitone, and therefore includes a chromatic inflection in the second sense, above.
The term diatonic progression is used in two senses:
- Movement between harmonies that both belong to at least one shared diatonic system (from F–A–C to G–B–E, for example, since both occur in C major).
- In musica fictaMusica fictaMusica ficta was a term used in European music theory from the late 12th century to about 1600 to describe any pitches, whether notated or to be added by performers in accordance with their training, that lie outside the system of musica recta or musica vera as defined by the hexachord system of...
and similar contexts, a melodic fragment that does not include a chromatic semitone, even if two semitones occur contiguously, as in F–G–A.
Modulation
- Diatonic modulation is modulationModulation (music)In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest...
via a diatonic progression. - Chromatic modulation is modulation via a chromatic progression, in the first sense given above.
Pentatonic scale
- One very common kind of pentatonic scalePentatonic scaleA pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave in contrast to a heptatonic scale such as the major scale and minor scale...
that draws its notes from the diatonic scale (in the exclusive sense, above) is sometimes called the diatonic pentatonic scale: C–D–E–G–A[–C], or some other modalMusical modeIn the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...
arrangement of those notes. - Other pentatonic scales (such as the pelogPelogPelog is one of the two essential scales of gamelan music native to Bali and Java, in Indonesia. The other scale commonly used is called slendro. Pelog has seven notes, but many gamelan ensembles only have keys for five of the pitches...
scales) may also be construed as reduced forms of a diatonic scale, but are not labelled diatonic.
Modern extensions
Traditionally, and in all uses discussed above, the term diatonic has been confined to the domain of pitch, and in a fairly restricted way. The common idea in those uses is that a specific selection is made from an underlying supersetSuperSet
SuperSet Software was a group founded by friends and former Eyring Research Institute co-workers Drew Major, Dale Neibaur, Kyle Powell and later joined by Mark Hurst...
of pitches. A particular subset of seven pitch class
Pitch class
In music, a pitch class is a set of all pitches that are a whole number of octaves apart, e.g., the pitch class C consists of the Cs in all octaves...
es is selected from a superset of twelve semitonally incrementing pitch classes, to yield a particular heptatonic scale. Exactly which heptatonic scales (and even which modes of those scales) should count as diatonic is unsettled, as shown above. But the broad selection principle itself is not disputed, at least as a theoretical convenience.
Extended pitch selections
The selection of pitch classes can be generalised to encompass formation of non-traditional scales from the underlying twelve chromatic pitch classes. Or a larger set of underlying pitch classes may be used instead. For example, the octave may be divided into varying numbers of equally spaced pitch classes. The usual number is twelve, giving the conventional set used in Western music. But Paul Zweifel uses a group-theoretic approach to analyse different sets, concluding especially that a set of twenty divisions of the octave is another viable option for retaining certain properties associated with the conventional "diatonic" selections from twelve pitch classes.Rhythms
It is possible to generalise this selection principle even beyond the domain of pitch. The diatonic idea has been applied in analysis of some traditional African rhythmsMusic of Africa
Africa is a vast continent and its regions and nations have distinct musical traditions. The music of North Africa for the most part has a different history from sub-Saharan African music traditions....
, for example. Some selection or other is made from an underlying superset of metrical beat
Beat (music)
The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...
s, to produce a "diatonic" rhythmic "scale" embedded in an underlying metrical "matrix". Some of these selections are diatonic in a way similar to the traditional diatonic selections of pitch classes (that is, a selection of seven beats from a matrix of twelve beats – perhaps even in groupings that match the tone-and-semitone groupings of diatonic scales). But the principle may also be applied with even more generality (including even any selection from a matrix of beats of any size).
Diatonic
Published sources for "diatonic", in Common Practice music.- The sources cited below are sorted into three groups, depending on what they say about the term diatonic:
- those that explicitly or implicitly exclude the harmonic and melodic minors, along with the consequences for intervals, etc.;
- those that include the harmonic and melodic minors, with consequences; and
- those that are ambiguous, inconsistent, or anomalous.
- In cited text below, relevant portions have been highlighted in bold, which has been added for emphasis.
Exclusive
Excluding harmonic and melodic minor scales: (Web)- (Print)
- Grove Music Online (see p. 295 in the print version)
- Diatonic (from Gk. dia tonos: 'proceeding by whole tones').
- Based on or derivable from an octave of seven notes in a particular configuration, as opposed to chromatic and other forms of scale. A seven-note scale is said to be diatonic when its octave span is filled by five tones and two semitones, with the semitones maximally separated, for example the major scale (T–T–S–T–T–T–S). The natural minor scale and the church modes (see Mode) are also diatonic.
- [But see the same source, Grove Music Online, below also.]
- The Harvard Dictionary of Music 4th edition, p. 239
- Diatonic: (1) A scale with seven pitches (heptatonic) that are adjacent to one another on the circle of fifths; thus, one in which each letter name represents only a single pitch and which is made up of whole tones and semitones arranged in the pattern embodied in the white keys of the piano keyboard; hence, any major or pure minor scale and any church mode as distinct from the chromatic scale.
- Elements of Musical Composition, Crotch, WilliamWilliam CrotchWilliam Crotch was an English composer, organist and artist.Born in Norwich to a master carpenter he showed early musical talent . The three and a half year old Master William Crotch was taken to London by his ambitious mother, where he not only played on the organ of the Chapel Royal in St....
, 1830 [reproduced 1991, Boethius Press, Aberystwyth, Wales], pp. 21–22- In modern music, the seventh note Si is often made one semitone higher, and then the scale of the minor key becomes chromatic. ... The sixth and seventh notes are both occasionally altered at the same time, and then also the scale is chromatic. ... This is the usual method of ascending the minor key, but in descending, the ancient diatonic scale is commonly used.
- [A rare instance of classifying the harmonic minor and the ascending melodic minor as chromatic.]
- The Theory and Practice of Tone-Relations, Goetschius, PercyPercy GoetschiusPercy Goetschius won international fame in the teaching of the theory of composition.-Life:Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Goetschius was the piano pupil of Robert E. H. Gehring, a prominent teacher of that era. Goetschius was the organist of the Second Presbyterian Church from 1868–1870 and of the...
, Schirmer, 1931 edition- [p. 4] This diatonic scale comprises the tones of the major mode, so designated for reasons given later. Upon examination it is found that the contiguous intervals of the diatonic scale, unlike those of the natural scale [Goetschius's term for a series of pitches rising by fifths, starting from F and ending and B, with C identified as the "keynote"; see p. 3], are not uniform, but differ as follows:
- [A diagram is shown of a C major scale with slurs pointing out the semitones between scale steps 3 and 4, and 7 and 8.]
- [p. 33] The line of research and argument [above] proves that, of the two modes recognized and employed in modern music, that one known as major (because its prin. triads have a major third) is the natural one.
- The other, i.e., the minor mode, is consequently to be regarded as an unnatural or artificial mode, and is accounted for as an arbitrary modification of the natural major mode.
- ...
- The scale thus obtained is called the harmonic minor mode. It is the only theoretically accurate minor scale, [... .]
- [Goetschius's stance is unusual in not recognising any scale other than the major as diatonic; he does not mention the so-called "natural" minor scale as an entity in its own right, but considers the harmonic minor as the basic minor form, derived directly from the major by alteration of the third and sixth scale-steps. Later (pp. 104–106) he discusses the melodic minor scale, and the fact that the third scale-step is "the only distinctive tone between the major form and the various minor forms" (p. 105).]
- Chromaticism being essentially the antonymn [sic] of the more restrictive term diatonicism, its precise definition rests on a series of definitions beginning with the concept diatonic system:
- diatonic system
- a succession of whole steps and half steps, of indefinite compass, in which the half steps are separated alternately by two whole steps and three whole steps
- diatonic
-
- consisting entirely of tones from a single diatonic system
-
- diatonicism
- the use of diatonic collections of tones
- chromatic
- not consisting entirely of tones from a single diatonic system
- chromaticism
- the use of chromatic collections of tones
- [... During] the past two hundred and fifty years, when extensive deviation from it and abandonment of it have become the norm of practice, the [diatonic] system has persisted as an important framework of tonal organization. Without doubt, this simple succession of whole and half steps is among the most deeply rooted facts of our musical culture.
- In view of its historical pre-eminence alone, the system deserves to be represented in its pure form by such a basic theoretical concept as diatonic. Modern abstractions such as the harmonic minor and so called "ascending melodic" minor scales, which are sometimes referred to as diatonic, cannot be reconciled with the above definitions without the term diatonic becoming an unwieldy and theoretically useless catch-all. [Reference to footnote.]
- [Footnote:] 1. In this connection much confusion derives from the accepted meaning of the expression chromatic scale. (Clearly, the harmonic minor scale is not the chromatic scale; it is therefore diatonic, or so the reasoning goes.) If the presently accepted meaning of chromatic scale is to be retained, we must content ourselves with the paradox that the harmonic minor and "ascending-melodic" minor scales, while inherently chromatic, are not "chromatic scales".
- Here it might be stated also that, while I am entirely convinced of the soundness of the above definitions, the reader must realize that any doubts he may entertain regarding them can be in no way damaging to the principle to be derived by their use. So long as the concept of chromaticism, as defined above, is clearly understood, I have no essential objection to the reader's substituting his own term for it throughout the article. Universally accepted nomenclature is a desirable objective, but, unfortunately, it sometimes lags behind theoretical thought.
- [A rare detailed articulation of the "exclusive" stance, exceptional for its mentioning and analysing the alternative "inclusive" stance.]
Inclusive
Including harmonic and melodic minor scales:- Oxford Concise Dictionary of Music (Online http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t76.e7995&category=; current print edition is the same)
- For the older European scales, used in the Church's plainsong and in folk song, see modes. Two of these ancient modes remained in use by composers, when the other 10 were almost abandoned, and
- Music Notation and Terminology, Gehrkens, Karl Wilson, Barnes, NY, 1914
- [p. 79] There are three general classes of scales extant at the present time, viz.: (1) Diatonic; (2) Chromatic; (3) Whole-tone.
- [p. 80] The word diatonic means "through the tones" (i.e., through the tones of the key), and is applied to both major and minor scales of our modern tonality system.
- Tonal Harmony in Concept and Practice, Forte, AllenAllen ForteAllen Forte is a music theorist and musicologist. He was born in Portland, Oregon and fought in the Navy at the close of World War II before moving to the East Coast. He is now Battell Professor of Music, Emeritus at Yale University...
, NY, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 3rd edition, 1979, p. 14
-
- The diatonic minor scale therefore has three forms: natural, melodic, and harmonic.
- The New Penguin Dictionary of Music, Jacobs, Arthur, Penguin, 4th edition (1977) reprinted with revisions (1986)
- [p. 108] diatonic, pertaining to a given major or minor key (opposite of CHROMATIC); so diatonic scale, any one of the major or minor scales
- The New Penguin Dictionary of Music, Jacobs, Arthur, Penguin, 4th edition (1977) reprinted with revisions (1986)
- [pp. 246–247] major, minor, ... The minor scale is divided for theoretical purposes into three types, [followed by an equal treatment of natural, melodic, and harmonic minor scales, with figures showing each form]
- Harmony: Its Theory and Practice, Prout, Ebenezer, Augener, 16th edition 1901, Chapter I, p. 3
- 8. A SCALE is a succession of notes arranged according to some regular plan. Many different kinds of scales have been used at various times and in various parts of the world; in modern European music only two are employed, which are called the diatonic and the chromatic scale.
- 9. The word "diatonic" has already been explained in §6 as meaning "through the degrees". A diatonic scale is a succession of notes in which there is one note, neither more nor less, on each degree of the staff – that is to say, on each line and space. [Reference to Chapter II, p. 17, where the sources of the modern scales in the old system of modes are explained.] There are two varieties of the diatonic scale, known as the major (or greater) and minor (or less) scale from the nature of the interval between the first and third notes of the scale. [Two figures, showing an ascending octave of the C major scale (Ex. 4) and of the C harmonic minor scale (Ex. 5).] Other forms of the minor scale frequently to be met with will be explained later. [The melodic is introduced and explained in Chapter VII, pp. 80–83, §§ 206–210.]
- Music History and Theory, Clendinnen, William, Doubleday, 1965, p. 23
- Western music made from about 1680–1880 made use of a system of diatonic scales, comprising certain arrangements of whole tones (T) and semitones (S) such as the major ... the melodic minor ... and the harmonic minor (T-S-T-T-S-T½-S).
- Harmony, Piston, Walter, DeVoto, Mark, Norton, 5th edition, 1987, pp. 4–5
- The tones that form the interval are drawn from scales. The most familiar of these are the two diatonic scales of seven notes each, called the major scale and the minor scale. Tonal music, which includes most music written between 1700 and 1900, is based on diatonic scales.
- The difference between the major and minor scales is found in the distribution of whole steps and half steps above a given starting point. [... C major scale as one case; Example 1–2, showing the scale and its steps and half steps.]
- There are three different forms of the minor scale. The natural minor scale has three tones that are different from corresponding tones in the major scale. Some of these same tones are also found in the other forms, as shown here. [Example 1–3, showing five forms of scales on C: major, natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor ascending (all shown ascending); and melodic minor descending.]
- All of the possible pitches in common use, considered together, constitute the chromatic scale. [Example 1–4, showing an ascending and descending chromatic scale; explanation of the chromatic scale. ...]
- Any particular diatonic scale is a seven-note subset of the twelve-note chromatic scale.
- The diatonic minor scale therefore has three forms: natural, melodic, and harmonic.
Other
Vague, inconsistent, or anomalous use:- Grove Music Online
- Diatonic (same article as cited above) ... An interval is said to be diatonic if it is available within a diatonic scale. The following intervals and their compounds are all diatonic: minor 2nd (S), major 2nd (T), minor 3rd (TS), major 3rd (TT), perfect 4th (TTS), perfect 5th (TTST), minor 6th (STTTS), major 6th (TTSTT), minor 7th (TSTTTS), major 7th (TTSTTT) and the octave itself. The tritone, in theory diatonic according to this definition, has traditionally been regarded as the alteration of a perfect interval, and hence chromatic; it may be either a semitone more than a perfect 4th (augmented 4th: TTT) or a semitone less than a perfect 5th (diminished 5th: STTS).
- Grove Music Online
- Minor (i). (1) The name given to a diatonic scale whose octave, in its natural form, is built of the following ascending sequence, in which T stands for a tone and S for a semitone: T–S–T–T–S–T–T). The note chosen to begin the sequence, called the key note, also becomes part of the name of the scale; a D minor scale, for instance, consists of the notes D–E–F–G–A–B–C–D. In practice, however, some notes of the scale are altered chromatically to help impart a sense of direction to the melody. The harmonic minor scale has a raised seventh, in accordance with the need for a major triad on the fifth step (the Dominant chord). The melodic minor scale has a raised sixth and a raised seventh when it is ascending, borrowing the leading-note function of the seventh step from the major scale; in descending, though, it is the same as the natural minor scale.
- The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory, ed. Thomas Christensen, 2004
- [Records different usages by different major theorists.]
- Encyclopaedia Britannica (Online: consulted in April 2007; 2005 CD-ROM version is the same.)
- Diatonic. ... The "harmonic" minor that results is, strictly speaking, no longer a diatonic scale, unlike "melodic" minor, which simply borrows its upper tetrachord from the parallel major, i.e., the major scale beginning and ending on the same pitch.
- [This accepts the ascending melodic as diatonic.]
- Encyclopaedia Britannica (Online: consulted in December 2007.)
- Diatonic. [I]n music, any stepwise arrangement of the seven "natural" pitches (scale degrees) forming an octave without altering the established pattern of a key or mode – in particular, the major and natural minor scales. Some scales, including pentatonic and whole-tone scales, are not diatonic because they do not include the seven degrees. ... In the natural minor scale, the half steps occur at II-III and V-VI. Given the crucial importance of the so-called leading tone (the seventh degree of the major scale) in diatonic harmony, however, the natural minor scale regularly becomes subject to chromatic alteration (in this case, the raising by a half step) of its seventh degree (the harmonic minor form) and often the sixth degree as well (the melodic minor form of the scale, used in an ascending melody). The harmonic minor is, strictly speaking, not really a scale; it is used normally not melodically but as a source set for constructing harmony. The upper tetrachord of the ascending melodic minor scale is identical with that of the major scale. ... The diatonic scale, as a model, is contrasted with the chromatic scale of 12 pitches, corresponding to the white and black notes of the piano keyboard considered together. ... An accidental sign in front of a note normally signifies either that the tone is notated as the sixth or seventh degree of the minor scale, or that the tone is a chromatic tone (it does not belong to the particular diatonic scale being used in the harmony of the moment).
- [The status of the harmonic and melodic minor as diatonic is left uncertain. Treatment of the alteration of the sixth and seventh degrees in minor is self-contradictory: at first those degrees are "subject to chromatic alteration"; but later such alterations are mentioned separately from and distinguished from "chromatic tones".]
- Elementary Training for Musicians Hindemith, PaulPaul HindemithPaul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
, 2nd edition, 1949, p. 58- ... (diatonic = consisting of whole- and half-tone steps)...
- [This definition fails to exclude the ascending melodic as diatonic, and fails to include the harmonic minor.]
-
- Compared with the seven available in a major scale. The exact intention with regard to classification of the harmonic and melodic minor scales is unclear, and likely to be inconsistent.
- Collins Pocket Dictionary of Music, Collins, 1982 [abridged from Collins Encyclopedia of Music, eds. Westrup, J, and Harrison, F, revised edition 1976]
- Diatonic ... In minor keys [the] sharpened sixth and seventh are in such common use, though not strictly proper to [the] key, that they are also regarded as diatonic ...
- Scale ... Modern diatonic scale as 2 modes: major ... and minor (TSTTSTT). Latter only has theoretical existence; in practice has 2 forms, both of which involve element of chromaticism in treatment of leading note: [forms of harmonic and ascending and descending melodic are given].
- [See note for the entry immediately above.]
- Theory of Harmony Schoenberg, ArnoldArnold SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
, (translation of 3rd edition, 1922), 1983, p. 32- In the seven chords that we build on the seven tones of the major scale we use no tones other than these same seven – the tones of the scale, the diatonic tones.
- [Harmonic and melodic minor scales aren't necessarily excluded. The intention is unclear.]
- A Dictionary of Musical Terms Baker, Theodore, 1923 edition
- Diatonic: (In modern usage) By, through, with, within, or embracing the tones of the standard major or minor scale.
- [The phrase "standard major or minor scale" is ambiguous, and could include all forms of the minor.]
- Music for Our Time, Winter, Robert, Wadsworth, 1992, pp. 28–29
- ... Western music settled on two diatonic patterns, known today as the major scale and the minor scale. ... The minor scale results from flatting (lowering by half a step) the third and sixth degrees of the major scale. ... it is frequently smoothed out by [alterations to the sixth and seventh degree. ...] this form of the minor scale is called the melodic minor scale.
- [The precise interpretation of patterns in two diatonic patterns is open to dispute. On one reading, these patterns are more general and flexible, and the minor pattern remains diatonic when it is varied as the author describes. By that reading, the definition of diatonic scale is not anomalous, but includes all standard forms of the minor scale. On another reading, pattern is taken to mean "exact configuration of tones and semitones"; by that reading, the definition is barely coherent (since a scale constrained to conform to such a strict configuration cannot be "smoothed out" by the alterations mentioned and yet retain the pattern that the author identifies as "the minor scale"). This second reading entails that among the minors only the harmonic form is "diatonic".]