Diatonic Major Scale: Characteristics and Examples of Songs

YOGYAKARTA - When learning about music, of course we have to understand the scale of notes first. There are several types of scales, one of which is the diatonic major scale. Watch the explanation and characteristics of the diatonic major scale below.

Quoted from the book entitled Mandiri Belajar Tematik SD/MI Kelas 5 Semester 1, Nidaul Janah, (2021:57), the scale is a tiered arrangement, for example do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do. The diatonic scale is a scale that has two scale distances, namely one (1) and half (1/2).

Diatonic scale is divided into two, namely major diatonic scale and minordiatonic scale. Major diatonic scale is a diatonic scale that has a sequence oftones with a distance of 1-1-1/2-1-1-1-1/2.

What are the characteristics of the diatonic major scale? One of them is to start and end with do.

The first characteristic that marks the major diatonic scale is that it beginswith the do basic tone on its first dot. It is then concluded with the do basictone but has a higher octave than the do basic tone used at the beginning of thescale.

So even though the beginning and ending of the basic tone on the diatonic major scale has the same name, but for the octave itself it is not the same as one and the other.

The last feature of the major diatonic scale is that it is cheerful and pleasant. It is likely that songs that use this scale give a cheerful and pleasant impression so that it will make the listeners more enthusiastic.

The next feature of the major diatonic scale is that it gives a valuable impression to a music or song. This scale is a scale that is often used in songs that carry the theme of struggle.

There are several songs of struggle or national songs that use the type of diatonic major scale. This is because this scale has the nature of being full of spirit.

Basically, in the example of the major diatonic C scale and the minor diatonic A scale, it is a scale with the same tone, namely A, B, C, D, E, F, G. However, it starts from a different order and has a different interval pattern.

Quoted from the Kemdikbud Repository Module, examples of songs that use the major diatonic scale are "Maju Tak Gentar", "Indonesia Raya", "Lihat Kebunku", and "Layang-Layang".

The examples of songs that use the diatonic minor scale are "Tanah Airku", "Ambilkan Bulan", "Ibu Pertiwi", and "Kelinciku".

This is a review of the diatonic major scale. Hopefully useful. Visit VOI.id for other interesting information.