Hexatonic scale: Difference between revisions

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Although equihexatonic scales may be rare, unequal hexatonic scales occur fairly commonly in the world’s musical traditions, especially in the folk music of some parts of Europe.

~~Folk~~ music of Scotland and Ireland often uses a 6-tone scale which can be arrived at by stacking perfect fifths with an octave period, which depending on the mode used may be called the “Scottish hexatonic” scale, the “hexatonic minor” scale or other names. Historically, the tuning varied, though today it is usually (but not always) tuned to [[12edo]].

The folk music of some parts of [[Croatian music|Croatia]] often uses a 6-tone [[just intonation]] scale called the [[Istrian]] scale. It uses an unequal tuning, best approximated as a 6-tone subset of [[7ifdo]] ([[subharmonic]]s 7 to 14).

The folk music of Scotland and Ireland often uses a 6-tone scale which can be arrived at by stacking perfect fifths with an octave period, which depending on the mode used may be called the “Scottish hexatonic” scale, the “hexatonic minor” scale or other names. Historically, the tuning varied, though today it is usually (but not always) tuned to [[12edo]].

Outside of Europe, in late 19th-century America, the “minor blues” and “major blues” scales were developed. They have since seen widespread worldwide use across many genres of popular music in the 20th and 21st centuries. Often, these scales will be used flexibly, as the first building block of a larger scale, or as it’s own scale but with heavy chromaticism. Most often these scales are used within a 12edo context, however they may, especially in their original blues-genre context, make use of “blue notes”, where the pitch of a scale degree is bent away from the 12-tone grid to some other interval, which may be only slightly [[xenharmonic]], or very xenharmonic, in its character, varying from performance to performance and within the same performance. Some xenharmonicists have been inspired by the minor and major blues scales to create new scales, such as [[antipental blues]].

~~The folk music of some parts of [[Croatian music|Croatia]] often uses~~ a ~~6-tone [[just intonation]] scale called the~~ [[~~Istrian~~]] scale. It ~~uses an unequal tuning~~, ~~best approximated~~ as a ~~6-tone subset~~ of ~~[[7ifdo]]~~ ([[~~subharmonic~~]]s ~~7 to 14~~).

Curiously, the Scottish hexatonic, hexatonic minor, minor blues and major blues scales are all constructed by adding one note to a [[2L 3s]] MOS scale. It is curious that they share this common structure - but also useful, as it suggests that maybe, even outside of 12edo, adding a note to 2L 3s could be a productive way of developing useful hexatonic scales in any tuning which supports that MOS (including most [[EDO]]s).

== See also ==

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 Although equihexatonic scales may be rare, unequal hexatonic scales occur fairly commonly in the world’s musical traditions, especially in the folk music of some parts of Europe.
-Folk music of Scotland and Ireland often uses a 6-tone scale which can be arrived at by stacking perfect fifths with an octave period, which depending on the mode used may be called the “Scottish hexatonic” scale, the “hexatonic minor” scale or other names. Historically, the tuning varied, though today it is usually (but not always) tuned to [[12edo]].
+The folk music of some parts of [[Croatian music|Croatia]] often uses a 6-tone [[just intonation]] scale called the [[Istrian]] scale. It uses an unequal tuning, best approximated as a 6-tone subset of [[7ifdo]] ([[subharmonic]]s 7 to 14).
+The folk music of Scotland and Ireland often uses a 6-tone scale which can be arrived at by stacking perfect fifths with an octave period, which depending on the mode used may be called the “Scottish hexatonic” scale, the “hexatonic minor” scale or other names. Historically, the tuning varied, though today it is usually (but not always) tuned to [[12edo]].
+Outside of Europe, in late 19th-century America, the “minor blues” and “major blues” scales were developed. They have since seen widespread worldwide use across many genres of popular music in the 20th and 21st centuries. Often, these scales will be used flexibly, as the first building block of a larger scale, or as it’s own scale but with heavy chromaticism. Most often these scales are used within a 12edo context, however they may, especially in their original blues-genre context, make use of “blue notes”, where the pitch of a scale degree is bent away from the 12-tone grid to some other interval, which may be only slightly [[xenharmonic]], or very xenharmonic, in its character, varying from performance to performance and within the same performance. Some xenharmonicists have been inspired by the minor and major blues scales to create new scales, such as [[antipental blues]].
-The folk music of some parts of [[Croatian music|Croatia]] often uses a 6-tone [[just intonation]] scale called the [[Istrian]] scale. It uses an unequal tuning, best approximated as a 6-tone subset of [[7ifdo]] ([[subharmonic]]s 7 to 14).
+Curiously, the Scottish hexatonic, hexatonic minor, minor blues and major blues scales are all constructed by adding one note to a [[2L 3s]] MOS scale. It is curious that they share this common structure - but also useful, as it suggests that maybe, even outside of 12edo, adding a note to 2L 3s could be a productive way of developing useful hexatonic scales in any tuning which supports that MOS (including most [[EDO]]s).
 == See also ==