Music 481 



which the accented tones, if considered in sequence, show 

 dominant non-adherence to chord intervals. 



Harmonic Structure. That form of tonal succession in which the 

 tones of the melody follow rather persistently the structural 

 outline of chords. 



Major Pentatonic Scale. That scale in which the constituent tones, 

 if considered in upward sequence, would show the following 

 arrangement of whole and whole-and-a-half-step intervals, — 

 (whole) (whole) (whole-and-a-half) (whole) (whole-and-a- 

 half). 



Minor Pentatonic Scale. That scale in which the constituent tones, 

 if considered in upward sequence, would show the following 

 arrangement of whole and whole-and-a-half step intervals, — 

 (whole-and-a-half) (whole) (whole) (whole-and-a-half) 

 (whole). 



The pentatonic scale is markedly primitive in character. It is known 

 to have been in use anterior to the time of Guido d'Arezzo, which would 

 give it a date prior to the beginning of the nth century. 1 



Rowbotham ascribes the invention of scales to those primitive musicians 

 who, striving for greater variety in their one-toned chants, added first one 

 newly-discovered tone, then another, and another. 2 The pentatonic scale 

 might have resulted from such chanting. 



Most of the primitive peoples of the present day do not seem to feel 

 or "hear mentally" the half step. If musicians of early days had this same 

 failing, it was only natural for them to avoid that interval by eliminating 

 from their songs one or the other of each couplet of tones which if sung 

 would form a half step, thus their chants would be pentatonic. 



Not only do people in the primitive state fail to sense the half step, 

 but also people in modern environment who have heard very infrequently 

 this smallest interval of modern music. 



Inability to sense this interval may be better understood when we stop 

 to consider that most of us find it unnatural and difficult to hear mentall> 

 the still smaller quarter-step interval or one of the even-yet-smaller sub- 

 divisions of the octave which some peoples have come to recognize through 

 cultivation, and have embodied in their music. 



This tendency to avoid the half step and develop along the line of 

 pentatonic character is sometimes seen in our own children when they fol- 

 low their natural bent in singing. It has been my observation that children 

 with some musical creative ability, but unaccustomed to hearing modern 

 music with its half steps, almost invariably hum their bits of improvised 

 melody in the pentatonic scale. 



Major Diatonic Scale. That scale in which the constituent tones 



if considered in upward sequence would show the following 



arrangement of whole and half step intervals, — (whole) 



(whole) (half) (whole) (whole) (whole) (half). 



1 Grove, Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol. IV. 

 * Rowbotham, History of Music. 



