Sound of Scales Lab
What does a scale feel like? Let melodies wander through its notes above a continuous C drone. Shift the balance between steps, thirds and fourths, and listen to how the character changes.
Listen without an ending
Bright notes belong to the selected scale. Tap one to mute or restore it; grey notes are outside the selected scale. With bass movement off, the low C drone remains fixed; turn it on to let the bass roam and return to C in repeating 3-, 4- and 5-note phrases.
Audio begins only when you press Play. Headphones recommended.
Choose scale
How should the melody move?
These are relative weights, not fixed percentages. With the default settings, steps, thirds and fourths make a 60/25/15 blend. Set a slider to zero to exclude that movement. The optional interval display shows each sounding pitch relative to the C drone, including enharmonic equivalents.
About the included scales
The Sound of Scales Lab is intended to be an exploratory listening resource, rather than an authoritative reference on scales, modes or musical traditions.
There is extensive and fascinating scholarship on the naming, spelling, classification, tuning and temperament of scales across different historical periods and musical cultures. Even the concept of a scale, and how it is understood and used, varies considerably between traditions.
In this lab, we have represented a wide variety of pitch collections using twelve-tone equal temperament, with C as a common reference point. Our aim is to provide different contexts for listening to different groupings of the twelve chromatic tones, exploring how their relationships create different musical colours and experiences.
This distinction is particularly important for the Indian classical pitch collections included here. A raga is much more than a collection of notes. Its identity can involve characteristic melodic phrases, ascending and descending patterns, ornamentation, tuning and conventions of performance. The simplified pitch collections presented here do not attempt to create music in these traditions, but does seek to introduce listeners to some of the amazing characteristics that can be found in them.
We encourage listeners to treat the scale names as starting points for exploration, rather than definitive classifications, and to investigate the rich musical histories and traditions associated with them.
A small listening experiment
Begin with only stepwise movement. Then raise the thirds and listen for a more arpeggiated shape. Add fourths to hear how wider leaps change the atmosphere. Try muting different scale notes while the C drone holds steady. Finally, change modes while the C drone continues: the root stays fixed, but the sense of colour shifts around it.
There is no score to follow and no correct answer. This is an exercise in hearing the character of a scale through repeated, evolving musical gestures.