Music theory for nerds
The explanation of the origin of major scale in the article is pure voodoo. Minor third is not a simple fraction - is that the reason to exclude it from the scale? How do you explain minor scale then? Maybe it should be excluded, too?<p>Here&#x27;re my thoughts on the subject.<p>For some reason no one can explain, Western music settled on a system of 12 tones with equal temperament, This system emerged as a result of long evolution of Western music, and experimentally proven to be very rich in possibilities.<p>Scales used in Western music (of which jazz is a part of) are built on two simple principles: 1) interval between adjacent notes of the scale is either tone or semitone 2) there&#x27;s no two semitones in a row.<p>It&#x27;s easy to check that all scales that satisfy these 2 rules are:<p>major scale and its modes (7-note scales; 7 modes)<p>melodic minor scale and its modes (7-note scales; 7 modes)<p>diminished scale and its modes (8-note scales; 2 modes)<p>whole-tone scale (6-note scale, single mode).<p>(Whole tone scale is not used very often, except by T.Monk)<p>But even after we &quot;explain&quot; scales, we need to figure out how to use them, what their role is, what the properties of each mode are. There&#x27;s no hard science behind this, the properties just &quot;emerge&quot;, and you have to experience them - theorizing is not of much help, math formulas don&#x27;t explain anything, just lead to confusion.<p>In short: you have to play AND think; thinking alone won&#x27;t help. It&#x27;s an experimental subject.<p>Edit: forgot to say: scale is a very useful notion, but in some contexts, it&#x27;s more convenient to think in terms of triads and interpolation. I know this all sounds hand-wavy, and it is! Unfortunately, without piano, it&#x27;s impossible to to illustrate what it all means. The subject doesn&#x27;t easily lend itself to verbalization.