Musical Facts about Notes

[Alolan_Apples]

Some songs (such as Jingle Bells) are good if played in any scale. Other songs (such as Zelda’s Lullaby) are only good in one scale. But scales am I talking about? A set of musical notes of course, which is what today’s entry is about.

So we know that the notes are C, C#, D, E♭, E, F, F#, G, A♭, A, B♭, and B, with C# and D♭ being the same, as well as D# and E♭, F# and G♭, G# and A♭, and A# and B♭. Only seven of them are in one scale, either major or minor. But what I noticed about every scale are all these facts:

• The sharpest note and the flattest note in each scale (also known as the dominant and subdominant notes) are the opposite of each other. Case in point, F and B are opposites. They both appear in the C-major scale and F#-major scale, where B is the sharpest note on the C-major scale and the flattest note on the F#-major scale, and F is the flattest note on the C-major scale and the sharpest note on the F#-major scale.
• An opposite pair of notes are on both opposite scales. Case in point, the C-major scale and F#-major scale are opposites as each other, and both of them have F and B, which you know are opposite notes.
• The order of sharpest to flattest notes in a musical scale are:
  • Note #7 (in C-major, this is B)
  • Note #3 (in C-major, this is E)
  • Note #6 (in C-major, this is A)
  • Note #2 (in C-major, this is D)
  • Note #5 (in C-major, this is G)
  • Note #1 (in C-major, this is C)
  • Note #4 (in C-major, this is F)
• The sharpest note is the newest note if the scales get sharper. But it disappears if the scale gets flatter. For instance, F# is introduced when C-major gets sharper (to G-major), but B disappears when C-major gets flatter (to F-major).
• The flattest note is the newest note if the scales get flatter. But it disappears if the scale gets sharper. For instance, F disappears when C-major gets sharper (to G-major), but B♭ is introduced when C-major gets flatter (to F-major).
• When the scale gets sharper, the sharpest note becomes the second sharpest while the second flattest note becomes the flattest. For instance, when C-major sharpens to G-major, B becomes the second sharpest note after F# comes in. With F out of the scale, C becomes the flattest note.
• When the scale gets flatter, the second sharpest note becomes the sharpest while the flattest note becomes the second flattest. For instance, when C-major flattens to F-major, E becomes the sharpest note since B is out. With B♭ in the scale, F becomes the second flattest note.

Now that’s all the generic facts. Here are some specific facts:

• C-major is the standard scale. F#-major is the inverse scale. The sharper scales are G-major, D-major, A-major, E-major, and B-major. The flatter scales are F-major, B♭-major, E♭-major, A♭-major, and C#-major.
• Both B and F appear in both the standard and inverse scales. Everywhere else, B is exclusive to the sharper scales as F is exclusice to the flatter scales.
• Both E and F# appear in all of the sharper scales, but E is absent from the inverse scale and F# is absent from the standard scale.
• Both C and B♭ appear in all of the flatter scales, but C is absent from the inverse scale and B♭ is absent from the standard scale.
• Both G and A appear in every scale when less than three notes are played sharp or flat, as well as the standard scale.
• Both C# and E♭ appear in every scale when more than three notes are played sharp or flat, as well as the inverse scale.
• Both D and A♭ appear in both scales that have three flat notes or three sharp notes. But D only appears when more notes are played natural and A♭ appear in when more notes are played sharp.