This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession

by Daniel J. Levitin

The most common subset of seven tones used in Western music is called the major scale, or Ionian mode (reflecting its ancient Greek origins). Like all scales, it can start on any of the twelve notes, and what defines the major scale is the specific pattern or distance relationship between each note and its successive note. In any major scale, the pattern of intervals—pitch distances between successive keys—is: whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step. Starting on C, the major scale notes are C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C, all white notes on the piano keyboard. All other major scales require one or more black notes to maintain the required whole step/half step pattern. The starting pitch is also called the tonic of the scale. The particular placement of the two half steps in the sequence of the major is crucial; it is not only what defines the major scale and distinguishes it from other scales, but it is an important ingredient in musical expectations. Experiments have shown that young children, as well as adults, are better able to learn and memorize melodies that are drawn from scales that contain unequal distances such as this. The presence of the two half steps, and their particular positions, orient the experienced, acculturated listener to where we are in the scale.