=============================================================================
=               Scales and Modes in Scottish Traditional Music              =
=                                  Jack Campin                              =
=============================================================================


Some Scales and Modes Scottish Music Doesn't Have
=================================================

There are some scales used systematically in other musical cultures which
seem to be unknown in Scottish music.


1. Major-Third/Semitone Pentatonic Scales
== ======================================

Ewan MacColl thought this tune sounded Japanese:

X:0
T:Schooldays End
C:Ewan MacColl
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:AMix
A,2B,2|D4    D3  E |F2 (FE) F4    |z8           |
       E2 EF ED B,2|D2  D2 (B,A,3)|z8           |
       D2 DE F2 A2 |B2  d2 (cB) A2|B2 BA  F2 A2 |B8  |
       A2 AB A2 FE |F2  A2 (FE) D2|E2 EF (ED)B,2|A,8|]

It's a successful tune for his song, but he got the nationality wrong - in
fact it uses a scale common to Scottish and Chinese music.  Japanese folk
music sometimes uses Chinese scales, and the basic scale of the shakuhachi,
the traditional five-hole end-blown bamboo flute, is phrygian/minor/dorian
pentatonic - other scales are achieved by half-holing.  But Japanese music
has two hexatonic scales of its own.  Both of them combine two rising and
falling pentatonic scales which differ near the top.

X:0
T:The yo-sen (male) Japanese scale
M:8/4
L:1/4
K:AMin
% rising mixolydian/dorian/minor pentatonic
% falling major/mixolydian/dorian pentatonic
A,2 B, D E G A2 | A2 ^F E D B, A,2 |]

X:0
T:The in-sen (female) Japanese scale
M:8/4
L:1/4
K:AMin
A,2 _B, D E G A2 | A2 F E D _B, A,2 |]

Neither of the pentatonic scales making up the in-sen scale corresponds
to anything found in Scottish music, or any European music.  The Japanese
in-sen scale is a pentatonic scale, but it includes intervals of a major
third and a semitone, unlike the usual Scottish and Chinese pentatonic
scales which only have whole tones and minor thirds.  That major third
between the second and the fourth is the most distinctive feature an
outsider notices in Japanese music.  In-sen is the mode used in the
most famous of all Japanese tunes (though it omits the rising seventh):

X:0
T:Sakura
O:Gerald Walker
O:loulou2032 @ yahoo.com.sg
M:C
L:1/4
Q:1/4=72
K:APhr
d d e2    |d d    e2 |\
d e f    e|d e/d/ B2 |
A F A    B|A A/F/ E2 |\
d e f    e|d e/d/ B2 |
A F A    B|A A/F/ E2 |\
d d e2    |d d    e2 |\
A B e/d/ B|A2     z2|]

And it's the predominant mode in this much more complicated song, where 
one bar sharpens the second and uses the minor third as a passing note.
The tune strongly emphasizes both the lower major third gap and the
falling major third gap below the tonic.

X:0
T:Fine Fishing Song from Haragama
S:Patia Isaku, "Mountain Storm, Pine Breeze: Folk Song in Japan"
N:the short lines are a shouted chorus
M:2/4
L:1/16
K:F#Phr
F4 G2B2|(c4 (3ded(3::2c2d|f4) d2f/d/c/d/|c4 B4|G2B/G/F/G/ F4|
B4 B2 c/B/c|d4 (3cdcB2|F4 F2{GF}G>F|D2
d2 d B d B|
D4 F2GF|({G}B4 c2{dc}Bd)|(c4{dc} B2{cB}G2{FG}|B2cB) (G2{BG}FG)|F8-|F4
D2F2|(^G8{AGFG})|(F3=G B2) B/c/B|(F4 {GF} D2{FD}C2{B,C})|B,2
d2 d B d B|
(B,4 C2) DC|(D2<<F2 G2FB)|(c2>>B2 d4)|
(c3d/c/ (3BcB (3GFG|B2{c}B2) G2{FG}FG|F8-F8|]

This famous Japanese tune uses a hexatonic scale, again with a major third
at the top (strongly emphasized, as three phrases rise to the high D to be
followed by a falling phrase that starts on the B flat below):

X:0
T:Kojo no Tsuki
M:C
L:1/4
Q:1/4=100
K:DMin
A A d e|f e d2|B B A G|A3 z |
A A d e|f e d2|B G A>A|D3 z |
F F E D|B>B A2|G A B>B|A3 z |
A A d e|f e d2|B G A>A|D3 z|]

There are other scales like that.  The Hungarian bagpipe has one less
note in its range than the Highland pipe: the gap may either be at the
sixth or the seventh.  Much of its music has no other gaps, but one
common mode omits the second as well.  The Highland pipe could play in
this pentatonic mode, but in practice it doesn't.

The Indian RAGA DESH is a pentatonic scale featuring both minor and major
thirds:

X:0
T:Raga Desh
M:8/4
L:1/4
K:AMin
A2 B d e ^g a2 | a2 ^g e d B A2 |]

It's used in Indian classical music and also in folk tunes, including
the very popular nationalist song "Vande Mataram" (which I can't find
notation for, and all of the many versions on the web add extensive
melodic improvisations - if anyone can identify what the core melody
really is, I'd like to know).  Some versions of this raga flatten the
g in descending passages, so the descending part becomes minor/dorian/
mixolydian pentatonic.

We know very little about the music of ancient Rome, except what Greek-
influenced theorists said about it.  But most of its music must have come
from far outside the former Greek world.  A pottery syrinx (panpipe) from
Alesia, in Roman-occupied Gaul, has a scale that matches nothing known
from anywhere else: it has 8 pipes, forming a mixolydian scale with the
fifth missing.  It may be Celtic but it certainly isn't the Scottish kind
of Celtic.

The scale of this very strange English-American tune is another pentatonic
one, resembling the in-sen scale in that has a major third, but it's in a
different place, the second is only used in the upper octave, the tune is
missing the fourth, and the sevenths are natural in the upper octave and
sharp in the lower one, the opposite way round to the Border pipe scale.
It doesn't match anything I can think of from anywhere.

X:0
T:Black is the Colour
S:Sharp & Karpeles, 80 English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians
N:they bracket the sharp on the last C as editorial
M:3/2
L:1/4
Q:1/2=60 % my guess - JC
K:DMix
 A A D/D/| F>F A  F D ^C|D3
 A A c   | d2  c2 (3edc |A3
 A A c   | d2  c  c e  d|A2
A2 A D   |(F2  A) F D ^C|D3|]

There are at least two other kinds of pentatonic scale used elsewhere
in the world.  NEUTRAL PENTATONIC scales have an interval in between
a minor and a major third; these are found in some Middle Eastern folk
music.  The EQUITONIC PENTATONIC scale has five notes, all separated by
the same interval, so it has neither a pure fourth nor a fifth.  This
is known as SLENDRO in Indonesian music.  Neither of these scales is
representable in ABC yet.


2. Modality Using Other Pitch Sets
== ===============================

The idea of modes as derived by taking different tonal centres for
the same pitch set can be applied to entirely different scales.  When
the notes of the hijaz scale on D are given the tonal centre G, you
get another common mode of Middle Eastern music, called "nihavent"
in Turkish or "nahawand" in Arabic.  It's the mode used for most of
this song, possibly from mediaeval Muslim Spain.  (It goes into B flat
major for a few bars in the second part).

X:0
T:Lamma Bada Yatathanna
M:10/8
L:1/16
Q:1/4=60
K:GMin % actually Nahawand
 D2| G4 AB cBBA AGG^F G4  \
 D2| G4 AB cBBA AGG^F G4
 AB| c4 d2 B3A  AGG^F G4  \
 A2|^F4 G2 E3D  EDEF  D4
 ed| c4 d2 B3A  AGG^F G4:|\
 D2| G4 AB cBBA AGG^F G4
 D2| G4 AB cBBA AGG^F G4  \
 B2| B4 B2 B4   cBAc  B4
 Bc| d4 c2 dccB BAGB  A4  \
=F2| G4 A2 B4   cBAc  B4
 AB| c4 d2 B3A  AGG^F G4  \
 A2|^F4 G2 E3D  EDEF  D4
 ed| c4 d2 B3A  AGG^F G4  \
 AB| c4 d2 B3A  AGG^F G4|]

Here is an example of varying the tonal centre within a single tune using
the pitch set of the hijaz scale.  It begins in hijaz (with tonal centre D)
but the "bridge" passage shifts the centre to G, modulating into nihavent.
The tune is usually thought of as Jewish, but I've seen it claimed for North
Ossetia.

X:0
T:Hava Nagila
M:C
L:1/8
K:DPhr
 D2 D3 ^F(3:2:2E2D|^F2 F3 A(3:2:2G2F|G2 G3 B (3:2:2A2G|^F2 E/D/E [1 ^F4:|[2 D4||
^FF2E  DD      D2 | EE2D CC      C2 |CE2D CC       G2 |^F2 E/D/E [1 ^F4:|[2 D4||
G4        B4       |G2    B2        A2 G2||\
G/G/G B>A GB    AG |G/G/G B>A       GB AG |
A/A/A c>B Ac    BA |A/A/A c>B       Ac BA |\
A/A/A d2  A/A/A d>D|DD    B/A/G/^F/ G4   |]

Indian music can derive many modes from a single scale by introducing gaps
and shifting the tonal centre of a pitch set in the same way as Scottish
music does.  Middle Eastern music rarely uses gaps, and does less shifting
of entire scales, but generates a similar variety of modes by building them
out of tetrachordal pieces.


3. The Acoustic Scale and its Modes
== ================================

A pitch set common in Hungarian folk music, and sporadically used in
Western art music in the 19th and 20th centuries, is the ACOUSTIC SCALE
or OVERTONE SCALE.  It's close to the first seven overtones of a flute
or vibrating string, transposed into the same octave.  You could think
of it as a Lydian scale with a flattened seventh or as a mixolydian scale
with a sharpened fourth.

X:0
T:The Acoustic Scale
M:10/4
L:1/4
K:C
C2  D  E ^F  G  A _B  c2 |\
c2 _B  A  G ^F  E  D  C2|]

This pitch set has two other modes found in traditional music: starting
on G, the MAJOR PHRYGIAN, and starting on D, the MELODIOUS MINOR (in
effect the Dorian mode with a sharpened seventh, and not used in the same
way as the "melodic minor" of classical theory).  Presenting these with
tonal centre C for comparison:

X:0
T:The Major Phrygian Scale
M:10/4
L:1/4
K:C
C2  D  E  F  G _A _B  c2 |\
c2 _B _A  G  F  E  D  C2|]

X:0
T:The Melodious Minor Scale
M:10/4
L:1/4
K:C
C2  D _E  F  G  A  B  c2 |\
c2  B  A  G  F _E  D  C2|]

This is a Hungarian tune that uses it.  As Vargyas says, it gets its
dramatic effect by appearing to be in C minor at the start, with the
true scale only revealed by the B natural and A natural in bar 5.

X:0
T:Pear tree, pear tree
S:Lajos Vargyas, Folk Music of the Hungarians, 2005
M:2/4
L:1/8
Q:1/8=69
K:C
% major-phrygian scale on G
Gc (d_e)|f2 _ec| Gc (d_e)|f2 _ec |
dc  BA  |F2  c2|_ed  c2  |G2  GG|]

A Galician one:

X:0
T:Alala da Peroxa
S:Daniel Gonzalez, Asi Canta Galicia, Orense 1963
M:C
L:1/8
Q:1/4=188 "Animato"
K:GMix
  GABc d3c|_e2 ({fe}d6)    |GABc d3f|(_ed) ({ed} c6)||
|:GABc d3f|_e2 ({fe}d2) d3e|c2A2 B3G|  A2  ({BA}HG6):|

Here is an English example (cited by Vargjas without a title):

X:0
T:The Saucy Sailor
S:Lajos Vargyas, Folk Music of the Hungarians, 2005
S:originally from Cecil Sharp, Folk Songs of Somerset
M:3/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
K:C
% major-phrygian scale on G
 cc |(cB) G2  cc  |(cB) G2
 Bc | d2  g2 (f_e)| d4
(gf)|(dc) B2  dc  |(BA) G2
 BB | c2  AG  F2  | G4  |]

This Welsh tune mainly uses the same pitch set in the G major-phrygian mode,
but the tagged-on bar at the end of each part makes the tonal centre seem
to be C, that is, C melodious minor, and the E natural near the end makes
it finish in C major.  It sounds as if these bits were attached later: that
the tune was composed at a time when the acoustic scale was in general use
and it was passed down to a time when it wasn't understood any more.

X:0
T:The Ebb of the Tide
S:Jones 1809
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:C
G| c2c cdc|(B3  G2)G|_e2e  efe |(d3 B2)
d|_e2d c2c| B2A G2 G| ABc  dec |(B3 G2)F|GAB c2||
G| c2c cdc| B2G G2 G|_e2e  efe | d3 B2
d|_e2d c2c| B2A G2 G|(AB)c d=ec| B3 G2 F|GAB c2|]

The acoustic scale is the natural scale for a flute with no fingerholes.
These are found all over the world, but seem never to have been used in
Scotland - the closest they got was Norway.  Usually the finger can stop
the end of the flute to get the closed-pipe harmonic series as well as
the open one.  Usually the flute is made as long as possible, given that
the player has to be able to get a finger over the end hole to stop it;
a type once played in New Caledonia was bent round in a semicircle, held
in that shape by a bowstring, to get it an extra 50% longer.  Here's the
scale for the Hungarian type, the tilinko.  The lowest two notes are not
used:

X:0
T:The Tilinko Scale
S:T. Okos, A Hangszeres Magyar Nepzenerol, Flaccus, Budapest 2004
N:in fact some of these pitches are audibly higher or lower
M:none
L:1/4
Q:1/4=80
K:C
P:open end
G,  |G  d  g  b  d' f' a'||
P:closed end
D   |B  f  a ^c' e' g'||
P:full scale
G, D|G  B  d  f  g  a  b ^c' d' e' f' g' a'|]

Here's a Moldavian Hungarian dance tune for it:

X:0
T:Gyors tilinkos
S:S. Balogh, Moldvai Hangszeres Dallamok, Etnofon, 2001
N:I've transposed this up an octave from the way it's printed
M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=194
K:C
_Bc  G c  de  c2 |    de G e ^fg e2 |
^fg  G g (fe)(dc)|[1 ^fg3     g2 z2:|\
                  [2 _B c3    c2 z2||
(a_bag) (^fg)(fe)|(^fg)(fe) (dc)(fg)|
(a_bag) (^fg)(fe)|(^fg)(fe) (dc) c2:|

The tilinko is the instrument, more than any other, whose pitch structure is
determined by the overtone series.  So much for the pop-musicology idea that
the overtone series is the primary influence on what Western music sounds
like.  If that theory were true, all music would sound like tilinko tunes.


4. The Nikriz or Misheberach Scale
== ===============================

A related scale from the same culture is that of the Moldavian kaval,
a five-holed low whistle (fundamental usually around A below middle C)
which is played in the first three or four harmonics.  It's like the
acoustic scale but with a flattened third: a dorian scale with a sharpened
fourth (but the kaval's tuning is different from the tilinko's natural
acoustic scale).  Fingerings, hence the exact scale, are variable.  Here
are two Moldavian Hungarian dance tunes for it:

X:0
T:Romanca
S:S. Balogh, Moldvai Hangszeres Dallamok, Etnofon, 2001
M:4/4
L:1/16
Q:1/4=144
K:DDor
A2(DE) (FE).D2|.A2(DE) (FE).D2 | .A2(DE)  (FE^GE)|(E2D2) E2z2 |
A2(DE) (FE).D2|.A2(DE) (FE).D2 | .A2(DE)  (FE^GE)|(E2D2) D2z2:|
A2A2.   B2`.c2|.d2.c2  (B2``A2)|(TB2`A2) (^GF`ED)| E4    E2z2 |
A2A2   .B2`.c2|.d2.c2  (B2``A2)|(TB2`A2) (^GF`ED)| D4    D2z2:|

X:0
T:Seremoj
S:S. Balogh, Moldvai Hangszeres Dallamok, Etnofon, 2001
M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=180
K:DDor
 (D/E/)F DA,      D/D/.D   D2  | (F/E/F) T^GF            (F/E/D) AD |
 (D/E/)F DA,      D/D/.D   D2  |(TF/E/F) T^GF            (F/E/D) Dz:|
(TA^G)  ^G(F/E/) .F.^G   (TA.F)|(^GF)     (F/E/)`(D/E/)   F2     Fz |
(TA^G)  ^G(F/E/) .F.^G   (TA.F)|(^GF)     (E/F/)(^G/F/) (TE.D)   Dz:|

This scale seems to have no common name in Hungarian.  It found its way
into klezmer music as the MISHEBERACH or MISHEBEREKH scale.  Klezmer
musicians generally think it's of Ukrainian or Romanian origin, but also
associate it with formulas from Jewish liturgy.  Here it is in a klezmer
dance tune:

X:0
T:Alan Bern's Freylekhs
S:Pete Cooper, Eastern European Fiddle Tunes
M:C|
L:1/8
Q:1/2=120
K:DDor % misheberach
dcBA  BA^GF|F/E/D EF ^GA3|dcBA  BA^GF|F/E/D AA D4:|
EFED ^GAGF |F/E/D EF ^GA3|EFED ^GAGF |F/E/D AA D4:|

X:0
T:The Misheberach or Moldavian Kaval Scale
M:10/4
L:1/4
K:C
C2  D _E ^F  G  A _B  c2 |\
c2 _B  A  G ^F _E  D  C2|]

In Turkish music it's one form of the NIKRIZ makam (NAKRIZ in Arabic),
which may have the seventh either major or mixolydian, or major on
rising phrases and mixolydian on falling ones, as in this example, quite
similar to the klezmer tune:

X:0
T:Nikriz Zeybek
G:Turkish or Greek dance tune from Western Anatolia
S:transposed into playing pitch from a score on adamgood.com
M:9/8
L:1/16
Q:1/4=108
N:Aksak rhythm
K:DDor
c>BA^G A2`A2  c>BAG  ABcd e2||
c>BA^G F>ED2  F>ED^C DEFG A2 |\
c>BA^G F>ED2  F>ED^C D2D2 D2:|
Ad2e   dcBA  ^GAB^c  d2dc d2 |\
Ad2e   dcBA  ^GABG   A2A2 A2||
c>BA^G F>ED2  F>ED^C DEFG A2 |\
c>BA^G F>ED2  F>ED^C D2D2 D2:|
A,DFA ^GFED   F>ED^C DEFG A2 |\
c>BA^G F>ED2  F>ED^C D2D2 D2:|
c>BA^G F>ED2  F>ED^C DEFG A2 |\
c>BA^G F>ED2  F>ED^C D2D2 D2:|

In this song the seventh is consistently major, but there is a modulation
in the second line of the verse.

X:0
T:I am going to Batumi
G:folksong from Sinop
S:Cerdanos website
M:7/8
N:Devr-i Turan rhythm
L:1/8
K:GLyd
P:Instrumental
G2 d2 dc_B|_B2 B2 BAG|G2 d2 dc_B|_B2 B2  BAG| 
G2 d2 dc_B|_B2 B2 BAG|z2 FG A2 A| A2 A2 _BAG|G2 G2 z3:|
P:Verse
 G2 G2 G2 G| d2 d2 efg|        g2 fe dc_B|        dc _BA G3:|
=c2 c2 c2=B|=c2 d2 e3 |[M:6/8] dc_B  dc_B|[M:7/8] dc _BA G3:|
P:Chorus
G2 d2 dc_B|_B2 B2 BAG|G2 d2 dc_B|_B2 B2  BAG|
G2 d2 dc_B|_B2 B2 BAG|z2 FG A2 A| A2 A2 _BAG|G2-G2 z3:|

X:0
T:The Nikriz or Misheberach Scale
M:10/4
L:1/4
K:CDor
C2  D  E ^F  G  A =B  c2 |\
c2  B  A  G ^F  E  D  C2|]

The Indonesian PELOG scale might be seen as related to these - it has
a sharpened fourth but is otherwise minor:

X:0
T:The Pelog Scale
M:10/4
L:1/4
K:CMin
C2  D  E ^F  G  A  B  c2 |\
c2  B  A  G ^F  E  D  C2|]

It's considered to have three modes ("pathets") but they don't apply to
single-line melodies like the Western, Middle Eastern and Indian modes.
The exact pitches of Indonesian scales vary from one gamelan to another.


=============================================================================
==  (c) Jack Campin         http://www.campin.me.uk/          August 2010  ==
==        11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland     ==
==                                                                         ==
==              these pages: http://tinyurl.com/scottishmodes              ==
=============================================================================