Composition tools - General scales and chords |
Scales and chords [Professional] [Composition Pro] In music composition, we can use any note of the piano
keyboard to compose a piece of music. They include the white keys
(C,D,E,F,G,A,B) but also the black keys (C#, D#, F#, G#, A# or
their equivalent notation Db, Eb, Gb, Ab, Bb). Most of the
western music culture is based on these twelve notes. Each note has its own frequency vibration (pitch). These
twelve notes are repeated several times on the piano keyboard,
using each time the same names for these notes. All notes having
the same name have something that makes them "similar".
Indeed, a given C note has a vibration rate that is exactly the
double of the first C note that is found to the left of it on the
keyboard. Similarly, a given C note has also a vibration rate
that is exactly half of the first C note that is found to the
right of it on the keyboard. The fact that several notes are linked by a factor of two in
their vibration speed makes them very similar to the ear. Their
vibrations are in physical harmony and the ear perceives it. This
is why we use the same name for all these notes. To be more
precise we often add the octave number to differentiate between
notes, for instance C1, E2, F4, etc. C3 is the middle C of the
piano keyboard (lower C in G key). Experience shows that all these notes are not likely to sound
in good harmony when they are used randomly. Only specific
combinations of notes sound nice when played together. So various
music theories have been developed to help the composer to select
notes and decide which notes may be played together to achieve
such or such an effect. Out of these numerous theories, we can
find at least two ideas in common: the scale and the chord. A scale is a subset of notes taken from the twelve
notes of the piano keyboard. The most known scale is the scale
formed by the white keys of the piano and it corresponds to the
standard C scale (C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C). A scale is characterized by
the sequence of intervals found between its consecutive notes. We
count these intervals in semitones (half steps). A semitone is
the sound interval that exists between any two consecutive notes
on the piano keyboard (black and white keys mixed). So the C
scale can be defined by the sequence of intervals
[2,2,1,2,2,2,1]. This scale definition is the Major
scale. You can find more details about this in The scale and the accidentals
lesson. Once we have a set of intervals defined, we can apply it so
that the same scale may be constructed on other notes. For
instance, the D Major scale would be D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D. Using the notes of a scale to create a melody is more likely
to sound good than using random notes on the piano keyboard. So
this tool named Scale can be used to select a set of
notes to construct a melody. It is a sort of preselection of
notes. Most western music is based exclusively on the major and
minor scales built on the twelve notes of the piano keyboard, but
there are numerous other scales, each one built on a given set of
intervals. A chord is a set of notes that can be played together
(at the same time) and that produces a musical effect that can be
used in a music composition. It is also a way of preselecting
notes for the composer. The most common chords are often
constructed by using one note out of two from a scale. We can
have chords with 3, 4, 5 notes or more. As an example, by taking
the first three notes of the C Major scale (skipping one note out
of two), we get the C Major chord [C, E, G]. So a chord is often
associated to a scale and can be seen as a subset of the notes of
a given scale, while the scale itself can be seen as a subset of
all possible notes. We may consider scales and chords as tools to help the
composer to create music. Scales would be more oriented toward
creating melodies while chords are more helpful to select the
notes when several instruments play together. At any given point
in a music composition, knowingly or not, the composer is using
scales and chords. This lesson will explain you how you can use and/or create
chords and scales and apply them to the score so as to influence
the Pizzicato score arranger and the various other composition
tools as the smart link and the musical vectors. Chords and scales library [Professional] [Composition Pro] The Pizzicato composition library contains several scales and
chords that you can use to compose music. Scales appear as an icon with four red notes on it. The
first folder contains the most common scales as the Major
and minor scales. The modal scales are in
the next folder. More specific scales are sorted by the
number of notes from 5 to 8 notes. The last two folders
contain several miscellaneaous scales. A scale is defined by its name and a series of notes. The
existing scales of the library are based on the C note as the
first note. You should always use the C note as the first
note when you create a new scale, as we are defining here the
structure of a scale, not a specific scale. Later in this
lesson, we will see that you can apply that scale definition
to any note. You can add or remove a note to/from the scale, by
checking/unchecking the last note number checkbox. Each note
has the following attributes: Chords appear as an icon with A7 in red. The Main
chords contain the most common chords and the Chords
by intervals contain chords sorted by intervals and
number of notes. A chord is defined by its name and a series of notes. The
chords are always based on the C note as the first note
(which is called the Root note), as we are defining
here the structure of a chord, not a specific chord. Later in
this lesson, we will see that you can apply that chord
definition to any root note. You can add or remove a note to/from the chord, by
checking/unchecking the last note number checkbox. The note
name menu contains all note definitions, including sharps and
flats. The first note is always C. You can create scales and chords yourself. We recommend you to
do that in the My library folder. Here is an example. You can organize folders, scales and chords in a similar way
to create your own library that you can use to compose. You can specify which intervals(s) may be found in the
scales and how many notes the scale must contain. You can
give a name to the folder that will contain all possible
scales that satisfy your choices. By default, the minor and
major second intervals are selected, but you can use this
dialog to create arbitrary scales using one or more given
intervals. You may do the same with chords. The dialog is very similar
and the program creates a folder of chords with all possible
combinations of the specified intervals. These automatic chords and scales building functions may be
used by composers to explore specific interval combinations and
easily deduce all the chords and scales using these intervals.
This gives you raw materials that you can then use with the other
Pizzicato composition tools. Assigning chords and scales [Professional] [Composition Pro] We have seen that Pizzicato has a chord symbol tool with which
you can specify chords symbols in the score. You have also the
chords progression window that helps you to easily organize a
sequence of chords in a score. These tools are still valid to
enter chords and indeed should be used for standard chords as
they are very easy to use. You can also directly drag and drop a chord from the library
into the score. Let us try this. Whenever you define a chord progression for a series of
measures, Pizzicato automatically selects the scales that should
go with the chords by some calculations using the 12 major and
minor scales. These assigned scales may be displayed by using the
reference marks tool (its shortcut is the ":" key on
the computer keyboard). You can see above each chord the scale that Pizzicato assigned
to that chord. Of course there are many possibilities and
according to the context, you may want to review or completely
change the scales associated to the chords. The scale you drag and drop will just replace the existing
scale. By default, Pizzicato assigns the root note of the chord
to the scale, but with the CTRL key you can select another tonic
for that scale. By double-clicking the chord symbol while holding
down the CTRL key, you can modify the tonic note of the scale. With these simple features, you can design a chord progression
and assign the scales that Pizzicato should use with other
composition tools, mainly with the arranger and the music
vectors. Indeed, while using these tools, Pizzicato must often
decide how to transform a melody to fit a given chord
progression. In that case, melodies can be much better translated
if Pizzicato knows what scale should be used within each chord of
the progression. This lesson has explained to you how you can
specify the chords and scales.