''Hirajōshi'' scale, or is a

tuning Tuning can refer to: Common uses * Tuning, the process of tuning a tuned amplifier or other electronic component * Musical tuning, musical systems of tuning, and the act of tuning an instrument or voice ** Guitar tunings ** Piano tuning, adjusti ...

scale adapted from shamisen music by Yatsuhashi Kengyō for tuning of the ''

koto Koto may refer to: * Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group * Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument * Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana * Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women * K ...

''. "The ''hirajoshi'', ''kumoijoshi'', and ''kokinjoshi'' 'scales' are Western derivations of the koto tunings of the same names. These scales have been used by rock and jazz guitarists in search of 'new' sounds."Speed, Burgess (2008). ''Japan: Your Passport to a New World of Music'', p.15. . Burrows gives C-E-F-G-B.

Sachs Sachs is a German surname, meaning "man from Saxony". Sachs is a common surname among Ashkenazi Jews from Saxony, in the United States sometimes adopted in the variant Zaks, supposedly in reference to the Hebrew phrase ''Zera Kodesh Shemo'' (ZaKS), ...

, as well as Slonimsky, give C-D-F-G-B. Speed and Kostka & PayneKostka & Payne (1995). ''Tonal Harmony'', p.484. Third Edition. . give C-D-E-G-A. Note that all are hemitonic

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 an ...

s (five note scales with one or more

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) and are different modes of the same pattern of intervals, 2-1-4-1-4 semitones.

Peter Sculthorpe Peter Joshua Sculthorpe (29 April 1929 – 8 August 2014) was an Australian composer. Much of his music resulted from an interest in the music of countries neighboring Australia as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of Aborigin ...

's Earth Cry uses the Hirajoshi mode as a tonal centre of the work. The five

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 ...

of ''hirajoshi'' can also be derived as subsets of the Ionian, Phrygian, Lydian, Aeolian, and Locrian modes. Synonymous scales have different names per region of Japan, as well as according to several ethnomusicologists and researchers, which may lead to some confusion. For example, the ''Iwato'' scale bears the same intervals as Slonimsky's concept of the ''Hirajoshi'' scale, and is also the fourth mode of the ''In'' scale. The same scale given by Kostka & Payne matches the third mode of the ''In'' scale.

See also

References

Further reading