The basic definition of a scale is a set of musical notes arranged in order. Most people are familiar with the C major scale as being the one where you start at middle C on the piano and just play all ...

There can be little doubt that understanding how music works can help you to make better music; or, at the very least, make things easier when you’re at the composing stage of your project. Here, we ...

One scale that goes from C to B, with five equivalent flats and sharps in between, makes up pretty much all the melodies in Western music – but how did we get to these 12 notes? All melodies and ...

AT the Society of Arts yesterday, Sir F. Abel, C.B., F.R.S., Chairman of the Council, in the chair, Mr. Alexander J. Ellis, F.R.S., read a paper on “The Musical ...

The mathematical rules for creating musical harmony may be more malleable than thought. Western music theory traditionally holds that chords sound most pleasant when they contain notes separated by ...