The Pentatonic Scale
The pentatonic scale is exactly as the name implies. It is a scale with five notes. It is very simple to create a pentatonic scale. It is generally a major scale without the fourth nor seventh degree, or the subdominant nor the leading tone. Even though this is a common form of the pentatonic scale, any five note combinations in an octave can be called a pentatonic scale. The Han Chinese use of pentatonic scales is very common. Some may only know the pentatonic scale as a major scale without the subdominant or the leading tone, but the Han Chinese also had four other forms of the pentatonic scale. The picture on the left shows that the Chinese used a variety of different pentatonic scales with different scale degrees omitted.
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The Pentatonic Scale in Chinese songs
In the first piece, Little Cabbage, the use of the pentatonic scale is very blatant as the melody doesn't contain the following notes: F and B. The piece is in the key of C major. The meter changes between 5/4 to 4/4. After analyzing the melody, the notes that are used are C, D, E, G, and A, showing this piece uses the Gong pentatonic scale in particular. This is so because in this variation, the fourth and seventh degrees are omitted. Below is YouTube video that is an arrangement of this folk melody but also contains a woman singing the tune (from 0:05 to 0:44). In the arrangement, the violin I part contains the melody and it is notated next to the YouTube video.
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The second piece is named Xintianyou and is a folk song that originated from the northern Shaanxi, an ancient name for the mountain pass near the Yellow River flow from the Loess Plateau to the North China Plain. This folk tune is in the key of B flat major. The piece is in 2/4 meter and is in duple meter. In this melody, the notes that are used are B flat, C, D, F, and G showing that this tune also uses the Gong pentatonic scale. Below is a video of a piano playing the tune. Beside that, the tune is also notated.
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The pentatonic scale in irish songs
The first Irish folk tune that was analyzed was Óró Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile. This Irish folk tune originally was used to welcome Bonnie Prince Charlie who the Irish supported because he was going to remove the English landowners from their land.
This folk tune is in the key of D major. The piece is notated in common time and is in duple meter. In the melody notated below, the following notes are used: D, E, F#, A, and B. The notes G and C# are omitted from the melody. This reveals that the following tune uses a Gong pentatonic scale scale. A YouTube video of soldiers singing the song is on the right. |
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The second piece that was analyzed is named The Fairhaired Boy. This folk tune is in the key of G major. This piece is notated with a 6/8 time signature which also shows that this piece has a triple meter feel. In the melody notated below, the following notes are used: G, A, B, D, and E. This reveals that the following tune also uses a Gong pentatonic scale. A YouTube video of the tune is attached on the left.
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