![Purcell diatonic chromaticism](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Purcell_diatonic_chromaticism.png)
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in
music theory
Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...
that are most often used to characterize
scales
Scale or scales may refer to:
Mathematics
* Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points
* Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original
* Scale factor, a number w ...
, and are also applied to musical instruments,
intervals
Interval may refer to:
Mathematics and physics
* Interval (mathematics), a range of numbers
** Partially ordered set#Intervals, its generalization from numbers to arbitrary partially ordered sets
* A statistical level of measurement
* Interval est ...
,
chords
Chord may refer to:
* Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously
** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning
* Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve
* Chord (as ...
,
note
Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to:
Music and entertainment
* Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music
* ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian
* ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened version ...
s,
musical style
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
s, and kinds of
harmony
In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
. They are very often used as a pair, especially when applied to contrasting features of the
common practice
In European art music, the common-practice period is the era of the tonal system. Most of its features persisted from the mid-Baroque period through the Classical and Romantic periods, roughly from 1650 to 1900. There was much stylistic evolutio ...
music of the period 1600–1900.
These terms may mean different things in different contexts. Very often, ''diatonic'' refers to musical elements derived from the modes and transpositions of the "white note scale" C–D–E–F–G–A–B. In some usages it includes all forms of
heptatonic
A heptatonic scale is a musical scale that has seven pitches, or tones, per octave. Examples include the major scale or minor scale; e.g., in C major: C D E F G A B C—and in the relative minor, A minor, natural minor: A B C D E F G A; the mel ...
scale that are in common use in Western music (the major, and all forms of the minor).
''Chromatic'' most often refers to structures derived from the twelve-note
chromatic scale
The chromatic scale (or twelve-tone scale) is a set of twelve pitches (more completely, pitch classes) used in tonal music, with notes separated by the interval of a semitone. Chromatic instruments, such as the piano, are made to produce the ...
, which consists of all
semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically.
It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...
s. Historically, however, it had other senses, referring in Ancient Greek music theory to a particular tuning of the
tetrachord
In music theory, a tetrachord ( el, τετράχορδoν; lat, tetrachordum) is a series of four notes separated by three intervals. In traditional music theory, a tetrachord always spanned the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4:3 frequency propo ...
, and to a rhythmic notational convention in
mensural music of the 14th to 16th centuries.
History
Greek genera
In ancient Greece there were three standard tunings (known by the Latin word ''
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
'', plural ''genera'') of a lyre. These three tunings were called ''diatonic'', ''chromatic'', and ''enharmonic'', and the sequences of four notes that they produced were called ''tetrachords'' ("four strings"). A diatonic tetrachord comprised, in descending order, two whole tones and a semitone, such as A G F E (roughly). In the chromatic tetrachord the second string of the lyre was lowered from G to G, so that the two lower intervals in the tetrachord were semitones, making the pitches A G F E. In the enharmonic tetrachord the second string of the lyre was lowered further to G, so that the two lower interval in the tetrachord were
quarter tone
A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, a ...
s, making the pitches A G F E (where F is F lowered by a quarter tone). For all three tetrachords, only the middle two strings varied in their pitch.
Medieval coloration
The term ''cromatico'' (Italian) was occasionally used in the Medieval and Renaissance periods to refer to the ''coloration'' (Latin ''coloratio'') of certain notes. The details vary widely by period and place, but generally the addition of a colour (often red) to an empty or filled head of a note, or the "colouring in" of an otherwise empty head of a note, shortens the duration of the note. In works of the
Ars Nova from the 14th century, this was used to indicate a temporary change in metre from triple to duple, or vice versa. This usage became less common in the 15th century as open white noteheads became the standard notational form for minims (half-notes) and longer notes called
white mensural notation
Mensural notation is the musical notation system used for European vocal polyphonic music from the later part of the 13th century until about 1600. The term "mensural" refers to the ability of this system to describe precisely measured rhythm ...
. Similarly, in the 16th century, a form of notating secular music, especially madrigals in was referred to as "chromatic" because of its abundance of "coloured in" black notes, that is semiminims (crotchets or quarter notes) and shorter notes, as opposed to the open white notes in , commonly used for the notation of sacred music. These uses for the word have no relationship to the modern meaning of ''chromatic'', but the sense survives in the current term ''
coloratura
Coloratura is an elaborate melody with runs, trills, wide leaps, or similar virtuoso-like material,''Oxford American Dictionaries''.Apel (1969), p. 184. or a passage of such music. Operatic roles in which such music plays a prominent part, an ...
''.
Renaissance chromaticism
The term ''chromatic'' began to approach its modern usage in the 16th century. For instance
Orlando Lasso
Orlande de Lassus ( various other names; probably – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palest ...
's ''
Prophetiae Sibyllarum
''Prophetiae Sibyllarum'' ("Sibylline Prophecies" or "Sibylline Oracles") are a series of twelve motets by the Franco-Flemish composer Orlande de Lassus. The works are known for their extremely chromatic idiom.
History
This cycle of motets is ...
'' opens with a prologue proclaiming, "these chromatic songs, heard in modulation, are those in which the mysteries of the Sibyls are sung, intrepidly," which here takes its modern meaning referring to the frequent change of key and use of chromatic intervals in the work. (The ''Prophetiae'' belonged to an experimental musical movement of the time, called
musica reservata In music history, ''musica reservata'' (also ''musica secreta'') is either a style or a performance practice in ''a cappella'' vocal music of the latter half of the 16th century, mainly in Italy and southern Germany, involving refinement, exclusivit ...
). This usage comes from a renewed interest in the
Greek genera
In music theory, a tetrachord ( el, τετράχορδoν; lat, tetrachordum) is a series of four notes separated by three interval (music), intervals. In traditional music theory, a tetrachord always spanned the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4 ...
, especially its chromatic tetrachord, notably by the influential theorist
Nicola Vicentino
Nicola Vicentino (1511 – 1575 or 1576) was an Italian music theorist and composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most progressive musicians of the age, inventing, among other things, a microtonal keyboard.
Life
Little is known of hi ...
in his treatise on ancient and modern practice, 1555.
Diatonic scales
Medieval theorists defined scales in terms of the Greek tetrachords. The ''gamut'' was the series of pitches from which all the Medieval "scales" (or
modes
Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine
* ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...
, strictly) notionally derive, and it may be thought of as constructed in a certain way from ''diatonic'' tetrachords. The origin of the word ''gamut'' is explained in the article
Guidonian hand
In medieval music, the Guidonian hand was a mnemonic device used to assist singers in learning to sight-sing. Some form of the device may have been used by Guido of Arezzo, a medieval music theorist who wrote a number of treatises, including one ...
; here the word is used in one of the available senses: the all-encompassing gamut as described by
Guido d'Arezzo
Guido of Arezzo ( it, Guido d'Arezzo; – after 1033) was an Italian music theorist and pedagogue of High medieval music. A Benedictine monk, he is regarded as the inventor—or by some, developer—of the modern staff notation that had a mas ...
(which includes all of the modes).
The
intervals
Interval may refer to:
Mathematics and physics
* Interval (mathematics), a range of numbers
** Partially ordered set#Intervals, its generalization from numbers to arbitrary partially ordered sets
* A statistical level of measurement
* Interval est ...
from one note to the next in this Medieval gamut are all
tones or
semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically.
It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...
s, recurring in a certain pattern with five tones (T) and two semitones (S) in any given
octave
In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
. The semitones are separated as much as they can be, between alternating groups of three tones and two tones. Here are the intervals for a string of ascending notes (starting with F) from the gamut:
:... –T–T–T–S–T–T–S–T–T–T–S–T– ...
And here are the intervals for an ascending octave (the seven intervals separating the eight notes A–B–C–D–E–F–G–A) from the gamut:
:T–S–T–T–S–T–T (five tones and two semitones)
The white keys are the modern analog of the gamut. In its most strict definition, therefore, a diatonic scale is one that may be derived from the pitches represented in successive white keys of the piano (or a
transposition thereof). This would include the
major scale
The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at double i ...
, and the
natural minor scale
In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which also ...
(same as the descending form of the
melodic minor
In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which also ...
), but not the old ecclesiastical
church modes
A Gregorian mode (or church mode) is one of the eight systems of pitch organization used in Gregorian chant.
History
The name of Pope Gregory I was attached to the variety of chant that was to become the dominant variety in medieval western and ...
, most of which included both versions of the "variable" note B/B.
Modern meanings
There are specific applications in the music of the
Common Practice Period
In European art music, the common-practice period is the era of the tonal system. Most of its features persisted from the mid- Baroque period through the Classical and Romantic periods, roughly from 1650 to 1900. There was much stylistic evoluti ...
, and later music that shares its core features.
Most, but not all writers, accept the
natural minor
In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which also ...
as diatonic. As for other forms of the minor:
*"Exclusive" usage
:Some writers consistently classify the other variants of the minor scale – the
melodic minor
In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which also ...
(ascending form) and the
harmonic minor
In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which also ...
– as ''non''-diatonic, since they are not transpositions of the white-note pitches of the piano. Among such theorists there is no agreed general term that encompasses the major and all forms of the minor scale.
*"Inclusive" usage
:Some writers consistently include the melodic and harmonic minor scales as diatonic also. For this group, every scale standardly used in common practice music and much similar later music is either ''diatonic'' (the major, and ''all'' forms of the minor) or ''chromatic''.
*"Mixed" usage
:Still other writers mix these two meanings of ''diatonic'' (and conversely for ''chromatic''), and this can lead to confusions and misconceptions. Sometimes context makes the intended meaning clear.
Some other meanings of the term ''diatonic scale'' take the extension to harmonic and melodic minor even further, to be even more inclusive.
[
An explicit example of such an extended general use of ''diatonic scale'' and related terms:
See also #Extended pitch selections, in this article. See also an exceptional usage by Persichetti, in a note to #Diatonic_pentatonic_scale, below.]
In general, ''diatonic'' is most often used inclusively with respect to music that restricts itself to standard uses of traditional major and minor scales. When discussing music that uses a larger variety of scales and modes (including much jazz, rock, and some tonal 20th-century concert music), writers often adopt the exclusive use to prevent confusion.
Chromatic scale
Chromatic scale on C: full octave ascending and descending
A ''chromatic'' scale consists of an ascending or descending sequence of pitches, always proceeding by
semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically.
It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...
s. Such a sequence of pitches is produced, for example, by playing all the black and white keys of a piano in order. The structure of a chromatic scale is therefore uniform throughout—unlike major and minor scales, which have tones and semitones in particular arrangements (and an augmented second, in the harmonic minor).
Musical instruments
Some instruments, such as the
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
, can play any scale; others, such as the
glockenspiel
The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone.
The glo ...
, are restricted to the scale to which they are tuned. Among this latter class, some instruments, such as the piano, are always tuned to a chromatic scale, and can be played in any key, while others are restricted to a diatonic scale, and therefore to a particular key. Some instruments, such as the
harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...
,
harp
The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...
, and glockenspiel, are available in both diatonic and chromatic versions (although it is possible to play chromatic notes on a diatonic harmonica, they require extended
embouchure
Embouchure () or lipping is the use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument. This includes shaping the lips to the mouthpiece of a woodwind instrument or the mouthpiece of a brass instrument. The word is of ...
techniques, and some chromatic notes are only usable by advanced players).
Intervals
Because ''diatonic scale'' is itself ambiguous, distinguishing intervals is also ambiguous. For example, the interval B–E (a
diminished fourth
In classical music from Western culture, a diminished fourth () is an interval produced by narrowing a perfect fourth by a chromatic semitone.Benward & Saker (2003). ''Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I'', p.54. . Specific example of an d4 ...
, occurring in C harmonic minor) is considered diatonic if the harmonic minor scale is considered diatonic, but chromatic if the harmonic minor scale is ''not'' considered diatonic.
Forte lists the chromatic intervals in major and natural minor as the augmented unison, diminished octave, augmented fifth, diminished fourth, augmented third, diminished sixth, diminished third, augmented sixth, minor second, major seventh, major second, minor seventh, doubly diminished fifth, and doubly augmented fourth.
Additionally, the label ''chromatic'' or ''diatonic'' for an interval may depend on context. For instance, in C major, the interval C–E could be considered a ''chromatic'' interval because it does not appear in the prevailing diatonic key; conversely, in C minor it would be ''diatonic''. This usage is still subject to the categorization of scales above, e.g. in the B–E example above, classification would still depend on whether the harmonic minor scale is considered diatonic.
In different systems of tuning
Pythagorean diatonic and chromatic interval: E-F and E-E
In
equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, wh ...
, there is no difference in tuning (and therefore in sound) between intervals that are
enharmonic
In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note, interval, or key signature that is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature but "spelled", or named differently. The enharmonic spelling of a written n ...
ally equivalent. For example, the notes F and E represent the same pitch, so the diatonic interval C–F (a perfect fourth) sounds the same as its enharmonic equivalent—the chromatic interval C–E (an augmented third).
But in systems other than
equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, wh ...
, there is often a difference in tuning between enharmonically equivalent intervals. In systems based on a
cycle of fifths
In music theory, the circle of fifths is a way of organizing the 12 chromatic pitches as a sequence of perfect fifths. (This is strictly true in the standard 12-tone equal temperament system — using a different system requires one interval ...
, such as
Pythagorean tuning
Pythagorean tuning is a system of musical tuning in which the frequency ratios of all intervals are based on the ratio 3:2.Bruce Benward and Marilyn Nadine Saker (2003). ''Music: In Theory and Practice'', seventh edition, 2 vols. (Boston: Mc ...
and
meantone temperament
Meantone temperament is a musical temperament, that is a tuning system, obtained by narrowing the fifths so that their ratio is slightly less than 3:2 (making them ''narrower'' than a perfect fifth), in order to push the thirds closer to pure. Me ...
, these alternatives are labelled ''diatonic'' or ''chromatic'' intervals. Under these systems the cycle of fifths is not circular in the sense that a pitch at one end of the cycle (e.g., G) is not tuned the same as the enharmonic equivalent at its other end (A); they are different by an amount known as a ''
comma
The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark () in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline ...
''.
This broken cycle causes intervals that cross the break to be written as
augmented or
diminished ''chromatic'' intervals. In meantone temperament, for instance, chromatic
semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically.
It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...
s (E–E) are smaller than diatonic semitones (E–F), With consonant intervals such as the major third the enharmonic equivalent is generally less consonant.
If the tritone is assumed diatonic, the classification of written intervals on this definition is not significantly different from the "drawn from the same diatonic scale" definition above as long as the harmonic minor and ascending melodic minor scale variants are not included.
Chords
''Diatonic
chords
Chord may refer to:
* Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously
** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning
* Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve
* Chord (as ...
'' are generally understood as those that are built using only notes from the same diatonic scale; all other chords are considered ''chromatic''. However, given the ambiguity of ''diatonic scale'', this definition, too, is ambiguous. And for some theorists, chords are only ever diatonic in a relative sense: the
augmented triad
Augment or augmentation may refer to:
Language
*Augment (Indo-European), a syllable added to the beginning of the word in certain Indo-European languages
*Augment (Bantu languages), a morpheme that is prefixed to the noun class prefix of nouns i ...
E–G–B is diatonic "to" or "in" C minor.
On this understanding, the
diminished seventh chord
The diminished seventh chord is a four-note chord (a seventh chord) composed of a root note, together with a minor third, a diminished fifth, and a diminished seventh above the root: (1, 3, 5, 7). For example, the diminished seventh ...
built on the
leading note
In music theory, a leading-tone (also called a subsemitone, and a leading-note in the UK) is a note or pitch which resolves or "leads" to a note one semitone higher or lower, being a lower and upper leading-tone, respectively. Typically, ''the' ...
is accepted as diatonic in minor keys.
If the strictest understanding of the term ''diatonic scale'' is adhered to – whereby only transposed 'white note scales' are considered diatonic – even a major triad on the dominant scale degree in C minor (G–B–D) would be chromatic or
altered in C minor. Some writers use the phrase "diatonic to" as a synonym for "belonging to". Therefore a chord is not said to be "diatonic" in isolation, but can be said to be "diatonic to" a particular key if its notes ''belong'' to the underlying diatonic scale of the key.
Harmony
The words ''diatonic'' and ''chromatic'' are also applied inconsistently to
harmony
In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
:
* Often musicians call ''diatonic harmony'' any kind of harmony inside the
major–minor system of
common practice
In European art music, the common-practice period is the era of the tonal system. Most of its features persisted from the mid-Baroque period through the Classical and Romantic periods, roughly from 1650 to 1900. There was much stylistic evolutio ...
. When diatonic harmony is understood in this sense, the supposed term ''chromatic harmony'' means little, because chromatic chords are also used in that same system.
* At other times, especially in textbooks and syllabuses for musical composition or music theory, ''diatonic harmony'' means ''harmony that uses only "diatonic chords"''. According to this usage, ''chromatic harmony'' is then harmony that extends the available resources to include chromatic chords: the
augmented sixth
In classical music from Western culture, an augmented sixth () is an interval produced by widening a major sixth by a chromatic semitone.Benward & Saker (2003). ''Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I'', p.54. . Specific example of an A6 not g ...
chords, the
Neapolitan sixth
In Classical music theory, a Neapolitan chord (or simply a "Neapolitan") is a major chord built on the lowered ( flatted) second (supertonic) scale degree. In Schenkerian analysis, it is known as a Phrygian II, since in minor scales the chord i ...
, chromatic
seventh chords
A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a dominant seventh chord: a major triad together with a minor ...
, etc.
* Since the word ''harmony'' can be used of single classes of chords (''dominant harmony'', ''E minor harmony'', for example), ''diatonic harmony'' and ''chromatic harmony'' can be used in this distinct way also.
However,
* Chromatic harmony may be defined as the use of successive chords that are from two different keys and therefore contain tones represented by the same note symbols but with different
accidentals
In music, an accidental is a note of a pitch (or pitch class) that is not a member of the scale or mode indicated by the most recently applied key signature. In musical notation, the sharp (), flat (), and natural () symbols, among others, ma ...
.
Four basic techniques produce chromatic harmony under this definition: modal interchange, secondary dominants, melodic tension, and
chromatic mediant
In music, chromatic mediants are "altered mediant and submediant chords." A chromatic mediant relationship defined conservatively is a relationship between two sections and/or chords whose roots are related by a major third or minor third, and con ...
s.
An illustration of the contrast between chromatic and diatonic harmony may be found in the slow movement of
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
's
Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 58. The long, flowing melody of the first five bars is almost entirely diatonic, consisting of notes within the scale of E minor, the movement's home key. The only exception is the G sharp in the left hand in the third bar. By contrast, the remaining bars are highly chromatic, using all the notes available to convey a sense of growing intensity as the music builds towards its expressive climax.
A further example may be found in this extract from act 3 of
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's opera ''
Die Walküre
(; ''The Valkyrie''), WWV 86B, is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on ...
''. The first four bars harmonize a descending
chromatic scale
The chromatic scale (or twelve-tone scale) is a set of twelve pitches (more completely, pitch classes) used in tonal music, with notes separated by the interval of a semitone. Chromatic instruments, such as the piano, are made to produce the ...
with a rich, intoxicating chord progression. In contrast, the bars that follow are entirely diatonic, using notes only within the scale of E major. The passage is intended to convey the god Wotan putting his daughter Brünnhilde into a deep sleep.
Miscellaneous usages
Tones
In modern usage, the meanings of the terms ''diatonic note/tone'' and ''chromatic note/tone'' vary according to the meaning of the term ''diatonic scale''. Generally – not universally – a note is understood as diatonic in a context if it belongs to the diatonic scale that is used in that context; otherwise it is chromatic.
Inflection
The term ''chromatic inflection'' (alternatively spelt ''inflexion'') is used in two senses:
* Alteration of a note that makes it (or the harmony that includes it) chromatic rather than diatonic.
* Melodic movement between a diatonic note and a chromatically altered variant (from C to C in G major, or vice versa, for example).
Progression
The term ''chromatic progression'' is used in three senses:
* Movement between harmonies that are not elements of any common diatonic system (that is, not of the same diatonic scale: movement from D–F–A to D–F–A, for example).
* The same as the second sense of ''chromatic inflection'', above.
* In
musica ficta
''Musica ficta'' (from Latin, "false", "feigned", or "fictitious" music) was a term used in European music theory from the late 12th century to about 1600 to describe pitches, whether notated or added at the time of performance, that lie outside ...
and similar contexts, a melodic fragment that includes a chromatic semitone, and therefore includes a ''chromatic inflection'' in the second sense, above.
[See ''New Grove Online'', "Musica Ficta", I, ii, cited earlier.]
The term ''diatonic progression'' is used in two senses:
* Movement between harmonies that both belong to at least one shared diatonic system (from F–A–C to G–B–E, for example, since both occur in C major).
* In musica ficta and similar contexts, a melodic fragment that does not include a chromatic semitone, even if two semitones occur contiguously, as in F–G–A.
Modulation
* Diatonic modulation is
modulation
In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the ''carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informatio ...
via a diatonic progression.
[Berry, ''Form in Music'', p. 125, note 2.]
* Chromatic modulation is modulation via a chromatic progression, in the first sense given above.
Pentatonic scale
* One very common kind of
pentatonic scale
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale).
Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancien ...
that draws its notes from the diatonic scale (in the ''exclusive'' sense,
above) is sometimes called the ''diatonic pentatonic scale'': C–D–E–G–A
C or some other
modal arrangement of those notes.
* Other pentatonic scales (such as the
pelog
Pelog ( su, ᮕᮦᮜᮧᮌ᮪, translit=Pélog /pelog/, jv, ꦥꦺꦭꦺꦴꦒ꧀, ban, ᬧᬾᬮᭀᬕ᭄, translit=Pélog /pelok/) is one of the essential tuning systems used in gamelan instruments that has heptatonic scale. The other, ...
scales) may also be construed as reduced forms of a diatonic scale but are not labelled ''diatonic''.
Modern extensions
Traditionally, and in all uses discussed above, the term ''diatonic'' has been confined to the domain of pitch, and in a fairly restricted way. Exactly which scales (and even which ''modes'' of those scales) should count as diatonic is unsettled, as shown above. But the broad selection principle itself is not disputed, at least as a theoretical convenience.
Extended pitch selections
The selection of pitch classes can be generalised to encompass formation of
non-traditional scales from the underlying twelve chromatic pitch classes.
[ Or a larger set of underlying pitch classes may be used instead. For example, the octave may be divided into varying numbers of equally spaced pitch classes. The usual number is twelve, giving the conventional set used in Western music. But Paul Zweifel uses a ]group-theoretic
In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as groups.
The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as rings, fields, and vector spaces, can all be seen as g ...
approach to analyse different sets, concluding especially that a set of twenty divisions of the octave is another viable option for retaining certain properties associated with the conventional "diatonic" selections from twelve pitch classes.
Rhythms
It is possible to generalise this selection principle even beyond the domain of pitch. The diatonic idea has been applied in analysis of some traditional African rhythms
Sub-Saharan African music is characterised by a "strong rhythmic interest" that exhibits common characteristics in all regions of this vast territory, so that Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980) has described the many local approaches as consti ...
, for example. Some selection or other is made from an underlying superset of metrical beat
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery ( ...
s, to produce a "diatonic" rhythmic "scale" embedded in an underlying metrical "matrix". Some of these selections are diatonic in a way similar to the traditional diatonic selections of pitch classes (that is, a selection of seven beats from a matrix of twelve beats – perhaps even in groupings that match the tone-and-semitone groupings of diatonic scales). But the principle may also be applied with even more generality (including even ''any'' selection from a matrix of beats of ''any'' size).
See also
* Major and minor
In Western music, the adjectives major and minor may describe a chord, scale, or key. As such, composition, movement, section, or phrase may be referred to by its key, including whether that key is major or minor.
Intervals
Some intervals ma ...
* Universal key
The universal key or universal scale is a concept employed in music theory in which specific notes or chord symbols in a key signature are replaced with numbers or Roman numerals, allowing for a discussion describing relationships between notes ...
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diatonic And Chromatic
Ancient Greek music
Byzantine music
Musical scales
Greek music
Harmony
Chromaticism