The Radio 3 Boards Forum from myforum365.com
05:37:18, 02-12-2008 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: Whilst we happily welcome all genuine applications to our forum, there may be times when we need to suspend registration temporarily, for example when suffering attacks of spam.
 If you want to join us but find that the temporary suspension has been activated, please try again later.
 
   Home   Help Search Login Register  

The Radio 3 Boards > The Music Boards > Music Through The Ages > Early Music > The Pentatonic Scale
Pages: [1]
« previous next »
  Print  
Author Topic: The Pentatonic Scale  (Read 180 times)
Kittybriton
*****
Gender: Female
Posts: 2690


Thank you for the music ...


WWW
« on: 13:49:24, 13-07-2008 »
Listening to an exploration of the influence of Western baroque music on the Chinese court, I found myself wondering whether anyone knows why the pentatonic scale became so firmly embedded in oriental culture?
According to my inherited copy of the Oxford Companion to Music (1945) the pentatonic scale "suggests an instinctive acoustic sanction" (Scales 10) but although, AFAIK, the Chinese were nowhere near as mathematically advanced as the Arab or Indian nations, I wonder whether there was some mathematical support for adopting such a scale, passing as it does through the tonic, to mediant, then jumping to the dominant before continuing to the leading note?
Logged
Click me ->About me
or me ->my handmade store
No, I'm not a complete idiot. I'm only a halfwit. In fact I'm actually a catfish.
autoharp
*****
Posts: 2778
« Reply #1 on: 16:18:01, 17-07-2008 »
Quote from: Kittybriton on 13:49:24, 13-07-2008
Listening to an exploration of the influence of Western baroque music on the Chinese court, I found myself wondering whether anyone knows why the pentatonic scale became so firmly embedded in oriental culture?
According to my inherited copy of the Oxford Companion to Music (1945) the pentatonic scale "suggests an instinctive acoustic sanction" (Scales 10) but although, AFAIK, the Chinese were nowhere near as mathematically advanced as the Arab or Indian nations, I wonder whether there was some mathematical support for adopting such a scale, passing as it does through the tonic, to mediant, then jumping to the dominant before continuing to the leading note?

Kitty - the reason nobody's replied may indicate that nobody knows the answer for sure. You've probably had a look at this which indicates that such a scale is the property of the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentatonic

At this point I'll duck out since there is, no doubt, a plethora of theories which somebody may wish to air . . .
Logged
increpatio
*****
Gender: Male
Posts: 2544


‫‬‭‮‪‫‬‭‮
« Reply #2 on: 18:25:33, 17-07-2008 »
Quote from: Kittybriton on 13:49:24, 13-07-2008
Listening to an exploration of the influence of Western baroque music on the Chinese court, I found myself wondering whether anyone knows why the pentatonic scale became so firmly embedded in oriental culture?
According to my inherited copy of the Oxford Companion to Music (1945) the pentatonic scale "suggests an instinctive acoustic sanction" (Scales 10) but although, AFAIK, the Chinese were nowhere near as mathematically advanced as the Arab or Indian nations, I wonder whether there was some mathematical support for adopting such a scale, passing as it does through the tonic, to mediant, then jumping to the dominant before continuing to the leading note?
The pentatonic, along with the standard diatonic and 12-tone scale (tuned in terms of fifths) are all 'pythagorian', in the sense that there are only two types of 'semitones'.  I recall coming across this surfacing in indian music as well, though I can't quite remember where.

That's not much of an explanation, but it's one thing that popped into my head.
Logged
‫‬‭‮‪‫‬‭‮
Pages: [1]
  Print  
« previous next »
 
Jump to: