A tetratonic scale is a musical

scale 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 ...

or mode with four notes per

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 ...

. This is in contrast to a heptatonic (seven-note) scale such as the major scale and minor scale, or a dodecatonic (chromatic 12-note) scale, both common in modern Western music. Tetratonic scales are not common in modern art music, and are generally associated with prehistoric music. (Reprinted, New York: Courier Dover Publications, 1991, ).

Distribution

Native American music

Tetratonic scales were common among the

Plains Indians Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of N ...

, though less common than the pentatonic scale. Amongst the Arapaho, Blackfoot, Crow, Omaha, Kiowa, Pawnee, and Sioux, as well as some Plateau tribes, especially the Flathead, the tetratonic and pentatonic scales used are anhemitonic (that is, they do not include semitones).Bruno Nettl, Victoria Lindsay Levine, and

Elaine Keillor Frances Elaine Keillor C.M. (born 2 September 1939) is a Canadian musicologist and pianist. She has been a professor of music at Carleton University since 1977, specializing in the music of Canadian composers and the music of North American indig ...

(2001), "Amerindian Music", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...

and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers, §2(ii). Tetratonic scales have also been noted among the music of the Creek Indians, and in the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

region among the Washo, Ute, Paiute, and Shoshone.Bruno Nettl, Victoria Lindsay Levine, and

(2001), "Amerindian Music", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by

and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers, §2(v). In the Southwest, the

Navajo people The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

also largely used the pentatonic and tetratonic, occasionally also tritonic scales.. Citation on 305.

Inuit

Tetratonic music was known among the Inuit, including the Greenlandic peoples.

Maori

A 1969 study by ethnomusicologist Mervyn McLean noted that tetratonic scales were the second-most common type among the Maori tribes surveyed, accounting for 31% of scales used. The most common were tritonic (3-note) scales at 47%, while the third-most was ditonic (two-note) scales at 17%.

Oceania

Tetratonic music was noted as common in Polynesia and Melanesia. Citation on p. 146. On Guadalcanal in particular, anhemitonic pentatonic and tetratonic scales are the predominant types, although the minor second does nevertheless occasionally appear as a melodic interval. The most often used melodic intervals, however, are the major second, minor third, perfect fourth, perfect fifth, and octave. Citation on p. 491.

Africa

The main instrument in the Lobi area of Ghana is the xylophone, some of which are tuned to a tetratonic scale.J. H. Kwabena Nketia (2001) "Ghana, Republic of ormerly Gold Coast, ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by

and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers. In eastern Uganda, the Gwere use for their six-string harp (called ''tongoli'') a tetratonic scale in which all the intervals are nearly equal, which to Western ears sounds like a chain of minor thirds.Sue Carole DeVale (2001) "Harp, §III: Africa", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by

and John Tyrrell, London: Macmillan Publishers. In South Africa, the San use a tetratonic scale approaching

5 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, whi ...

, but lacking the second step.

India

Tetratonic, as well as tritonic scales, were commonly used by the tribal peoples of India, such as the Juang and

Bhuyan The Bhuyan (Also known as Bhuiya, Bhuiyan and Bhuinya) are an ethnic group found mainly in many districts of Odisha. The 2011 census showed their population to be around 220,859. They are classified as a Scheduled Tribe by the Indian government. ...

of Orissa state.

Russia

The music of the Volga-Finnic Cheremis ( Mari people) of central Russia was primarily pentatonic, but used tetratonic scales 20% of the time.

Western Europe

The second-earliest scales of Scandinavian, German, English, and Scottish folk music are believed to have been pentatonic, themselves developed from an earlier tetratonic scale. Tetratonic scales, along with pentatonic scales, account for 54% of songs in the traditional '' joik'' repertoire of the European Arctic

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, where the singing range extends to a tenth or eleventh. Citation on p. 52. The predominant style of traditional music from the

Peloponnese region The Peloponnese Region ( el, Περιφέρεια Πελοποννήσου, translit=Periféria Peloponnísou, ) is a region in southern Greece. It borders Western Greece to the north and Attica to the north-east. The region has an area of about ...

of Greece is a mixture of Christian, Albanian, and Vlach. It employs tetratonic, pentachordal, and pentatonic scales, around the notes of which microtonal ornamentation (''stolidia''/''psevtikes'') occurs.Sotirios Chianis and Rudolph M. Brandl (2001) "Greece, §IV: Traditional Music", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by

and John Tyrrell, London: Macmillan Publishers.

Art music

A rare example of an art-music composition based entirely on a tetratonic scale is the early minimalist work ''

Reed Phase Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * R ...

'' (1966), by

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...

, which is based entirely on a single five-note cell, or "basic unit", repeated continually throughout the entire work. Because the note A occurs twice in this pattern, there are only four pitches in all.