A tritonic scale is a musical
scale or
mode
Mode ( meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* MO''D''E (magazine), a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine
* ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is the setting fo ...
with three
note
Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to:
Music and entertainment
* Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music
* ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian
* ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened versi ...
s per
octave
In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...
. This is in contrast to a
heptatonic
A heptatonic scale is a musical scale that has seven pitches, or tones, per octave. Examples include:
* the diatonic scale; including the major scale and its modes (notably the natural minor scale, or Aeolian mode)
* the melodic minor scale, l ...
(seven-note) scale such as the
major scale
The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at doubl ...
and
minor scale
In Classical_music, Western classical music theory, the minor scale refers to three Scale (music), scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending).
...
, or a
dodecatonic (chromatic 12-note) scale, both common in modern Western music. Tritonic scales are not common in modern art music, and are generally associated with
indigenous and
prehistoric music
Prehistoric music (previously called primitive music) is a term in the history of music for all music produced in preliterate cultures (prehistory), beginning somewhere in very late geological history. Prehistoric music is followed by ancient mu ...
.
[Onkar Prasad,]
Tribal Music: Its Proper Context
, in ''Tribal Thought and Culture: Essays in Honour of Surajit Chandra Sinha'', edited by Baidyanath Saraswati, 131–49 (New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, 1991): 131 (accessed 18 January 2020)
Distribution
India
Early Indian
Rig Vedic hymns were tri-tonic, sung in three pitches with no octave: Udatta, Anudatta, and Swarita.
Maori
In a 1969 study,
Mervyn McLean noted that tritonic scales were the most common among the
Maori tribes he surveyed, comprising 47% of the scales used.
South America
The pre-Hispanic ''
herranza'' ritual music of the Andes is generally tritonic, based on a
major triad
In music theory, a major chord is a chord that has a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a major triad. For example, the major triad built on C, called a C major triad, has pitch ...
, and played on the ''
waqra phuku'' trumpet, violin, and singer with a ''
tinya'' drum. The tritonic scale is largely limited to this ritual and to some southern Peruvian
Carnival
Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras.
Carnival typi ...
music.
See also
*
One-third octave
A one-third octave is a logarithmic unit of frequency ratio equal to either one third of an octave (1200/3 = 400 cents: major third) or one tenth of a decade (3986.31/10 = 398.631 cents: M3 ). An alternative (unambiguous) term for one tenth of ...
*
Tritone
In music theory, the tritone is defined as a interval (music), musical interval spanning three adjacent Major second, whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be ...
References
{{Scales
Musical scales
Tritonic musical scales