15. SCALES

The study of scales is the foundation of instrumental technique, and is necessary for understanding tonality. For both of these reasons, I’m including an etude comprised completely of scales. This is by no means a list of scales- in our modern (global) era, a comprehensive list of all scales in music performance would be a book in itself. There are 48 scales traditionally covered in classical music education- twelve major scales, twelve natural minor (Aeolian) scales, twelve enharmonic minor scales, and twelve melodic minor scales.This etude is a presentation of major scales playable in first position. Major scales are called Ionian in the modal (church mode) system. The modal system of scale nomenclature is used by jazz musicians, musicologists, and modern electric guitarists. Today, guitar magazines are full of references to not only the seven main modes, but the extended system (Hypolydian, Hypomixolydian, etc.) as well, particularly when describing the various ‘metal’ guitar styles. Where does this great system come from? What do the names mean? Actually, the system of church modes is a logical construction that has no real organic roots- the Greek mode names are just designations, with no actual connection to historical Greece. How did this happen? It has to do with early Christian liturgical chant. Today it is generally accepted that this body of music evolved from Jewish liturgical chant (of the Roman era). An academic problem arose when medieval scholars began to view liturgical singing as the core, or source, of Western (i.e., European) music. Musicians and philosophers needed a system, one that could be compared to the systems of other disciplines, like mathematics, chemistry, and so forth. What better way to lay the foundation of music theory than to evoke Ancient Greece, the source of Western philosophy? Actually, little was known about ancient Greek music. Medieval scholars extrapolated the grand tetrachordal system from less than twenty actual Greek sources, some of them only fragmentary references. The modal (Gregorian) system was loosely based on the tetrachordal system.