Tag: scales

Why Twelve?

April 11, 2023
Musicians' Corner

Modern Western musicians live and work mainly with a twelve-note chromatic equal-tempered scale. As you can read in ample resources elsewhere on the web, equal temperament is a tuning compromise that lets fixed-pitch instruments play in every key without sounding more out of tune in any key than in any other, and without sounding too…

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Phineas Newborn, and Revisiting the Question of “What Good are Scales?”

August 22, 2020
Musicians' Corner

As students of music we aim to train our ears to hear each note on its own terms, and when we improvise, to intend each note on its own terms. To many of us, especially jazz students, scales can be crutches that work against the goal of musical intent because relying on rules like “every…

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Fun with Fills, What Good are Scales, and Thoughts on Growing Musical Vocabulary

March 22, 2020
Musicians' Corner

You know how every now and then you hear something and you’re like, “What was THAT?!?” Well, I was listening to music in the car a while back and this amazing fill caught my ear big-time. I made a note to come back to it because it sounded fantastic and a big part of it…

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