The C Major Scale......................................
.....................................................The Basic Music Scale
C Major Scale C C Sharp D Flat D D Sharp E Flat E F F Sharp G Flat G G Sharp A Flat A A Sharp B Flat B C Flat This page shows the C Major Scale notes and scale degrees in the Answer section, on both the Piano and Treble Clef.
The How To steps then describe how to identify the
note intervals, assign note names, then finally how
to work out the scale degrees from the notes.
Answer Section: 2 PartsAnswer Parts: [1] 2
How To Steps: 1 2 3 4 5 Top Home
1. C Major Scale Notes Ascending This step shows
the C Major Scale on the Piano and Treble Clef,
going from the lowest to the highest note in the scale.
It also shows the Scale Degree names for each note in the scale.
C Major Scale Note and Degree Names Note No.Scale Degree Note Name
1The Tonic (First Note) of C Major Scale is C
2 The Supertonic (Second Note) of C Major Scale is D
3 The Mediant (Third Note) of C Major Scale is E
4 The Subdominant (Fourth Note) of C Major Scale is F
5 The Dominant (Fifth Note) of C Major Scale is G
6 The Submediant (Sixth Note) of C Major Scale is A
7 The Leading Note/Tone (Seventh Note) of C Major Scale is B
8 The Tonic (Eighth Note) of C Major Scale is C Download and listen to answer part 1
Answer Parts: 1 [2] How To Steps: 1 2 3 4 5 Top Home
2. C Major Scale Notes DescendingThis step shows the C Minor Scale on the Piano and Treble Clef, going from the highest back to the first note in the scale.
C Major Scale Notes Descending No.1234567 Note BAGFEDC Download and listen to answer part 2
'How to' Steps:Answer Parts: 1 2 How To Steps: [1] 2 3 4 5 Top Home
1. Begin with a piano keyboard showing 2 Octaves, 24 Notes This step shows the white and black note names on a Piano keyboard so that the note names are familar for later steps, and to show that the note names start repeating themselves after 12 notes.
The white keys are named using the alphabetic letters C, D, E, F, G, A, B, a pattern that repeats twice.
The group of white and black notes between C and B makes up one Octave of notes, 12 notes
Each black key could have two possible names - either a Sharp or a Flat.
In a later step, if a black note is used in this scale, the exact name (Sharp or Flat) will be decided.
Download and listen to step 1
Answer Parts: 1 2 How To Steps: 1 [2] 3 4 5 Top Home
2. Find the C Tonic note and one octave of notesThis step shows an octave of notes in C to identify the start and end notes of the scale.
The numbered notes are those that might be used when building this note scale.
But since this is a C scale, it is certain that notes 1 and 13 will be used in the scale.
Note 1 is the Tonic note - the starting note (C), and Note 13 is the same note name but one octave higher.
C Chromatic Scale - 1 Octave of NotesNo.12345678910111213
NoteCC# / Db D D# / Eb E F F# / Gb G G# / Ab A A# / Bb B C Download and listen to step 2
Answer Parts: 1 2 How To Steps: 1 2 [3] 4 5 Top Home
3. Use the C Major Scale IntervalsThis step applies the Major Scale note intervals to C so that the correct piano keys and note pitches can be identified.
The Major Scale uses the T T S T T T S interval counting rule to choose the notes in the scale.
To count up a Tone, count up by two physical piano keys, either white or black.
To count up a Semitone, count up from the last note up by onephysical piano key, either white or black.
The Tonic note (shown as *) is the starting point and is always the 1st note in the major scale.
Again, the final 8th note is the Octave note, having the same name as the Tonic note.C Major Scale IntervalsNo.12345678 Note CDEFGABC So why does the C Major scale have no sharps or flats ? It is because the Tone-Semitone intervals above all happen to fall on white keys, and never on black keys.
If any of the intervals fell on a black note, we would then need to decide whether that note is a sharp or a flat. C Major is the only Major scale having no sharps or flats.
A Natural Minor Scale is the Relative Minor key of C Major, and since it uses the same notes, it too has no sharps or flats either.
Download and listen to step 3
Answer Parts: 1 2 How To Steps: 1 2 3 [4] 5 Top Home
4. C Major Scale Notes DescendingThis step tries shows the notes in the scale when descending the C scale, going from the highest note sound back to the starting note.
For Major Scales, the notes names when descending are just the reverse of the ascending names.So assuming octave note 8 has been played in the step above, the notes now descend back to the Tonic.
C Major Scale Notes DescendingNo.1234567 Note BAGFEDC Download and listen to step 4
Answer Parts: 1 2 How To Steps: 1 2 3 4 [5] Top Home
5. C Major Scale DegreesThis step shows the C Major scale degrees - Tonic, Supertonic, Mediant, Subdominant, Dominant, Submediant, Leading Note/Tone, and Tonic.
Each of the notes in this scale has a Scale Degree Name, which describes the relationship of that note to the Tonic(1st) Note.Scale Degree names 1,2,3,4,5,6, and 8 below are always the same for all Major and Minor Scales (ie 1st note is always Tonic, 2nd is Supertonic etc.) , but obviously the note names will be different for each scale / key combination.
In the Major scale, the 7th note is called the Leading Note orLeading Tone because the sound of the 7th Note feels like it wants to resolve and finish at the Octave note, when all scale notes are played in sequence.
It does this because in this scale, the 7th note is only 1 semitone away from the 8th Note - the octave note. The C Harmonic Minor Scale and C Melodic Minor Scale scales share the same property - they both have only one semitone between the 7th and 8th Notes.
In contrast, the C Natural Minor Scale has a whole tone (two semitones, two notes on the piano keyboard) between the Seventh and Eighth notes, and the 7th note does not lean towards the 8th note in the same way. In this case, the 7th note is called the Subtonic.
C Major Scale Note and Degree NamesNote No.Scale Degree Note Name
1The Tonic (First Note) of C Major Scale is C
2The Supertonic (Second Note) of C Major Scale is D
3The Mediant (Third Note) of C Major Scale is E
4The Subdominant (Fourth Note) of C Major Scale is F
5The Dominant (Fifth Note) of C Major Scale is G
6The Submediant (Sixth Note) of C Major Scale is A
7The Leading Note/Tone (Seventh Note) of C Major Scale is B
8The Tonic (Eighth Note) of C Major Scale is C
CC SharpD FlatDD SharpE FlatEFF SharpG FlatGG SharpA FlatAA SharpB FlatBC Flat
Did you want...?Related LinksC Major Scale, C, C Major Scale Key Signature, C Relative Minor KeyMinor ScalesC Natural Minor Scale, C Harmonic Minor Scale, C Melodic Minor Scale
More ScalesC Chromatic Scale, C Pentatonic Major Scale, C Pentatonic Minor Scale, C Blues Scale
The How To steps then describe how to identify the
note intervals, assign note names, then finally how
to work out the scale degrees from the notes.
Answer Section: 2 PartsAnswer Parts: [1] 2
How To Steps: 1 2 3 4 5 Top Home
1. C Major Scale Notes Ascending This step shows
the C Major Scale on the Piano and Treble Clef,
going from the lowest to the highest note in the scale.
It also shows the Scale Degree names for each note in the scale.
C Major Scale Note and Degree Names Note No.Scale Degree Note Name
1The Tonic (First Note) of C Major Scale is C
2 The Supertonic (Second Note) of C Major Scale is D
3 The Mediant (Third Note) of C Major Scale is E
4 The Subdominant (Fourth Note) of C Major Scale is F
5 The Dominant (Fifth Note) of C Major Scale is G
6 The Submediant (Sixth Note) of C Major Scale is A
7 The Leading Note/Tone (Seventh Note) of C Major Scale is B
8 The Tonic (Eighth Note) of C Major Scale is C Download and listen to answer part 1
Answer Parts: 1 [2] How To Steps: 1 2 3 4 5 Top Home
2. C Major Scale Notes DescendingThis step shows the C Minor Scale on the Piano and Treble Clef, going from the highest back to the first note in the scale.
C Major Scale Notes Descending No.1234567 Note BAGFEDC Download and listen to answer part 2
'How to' Steps:Answer Parts: 1 2 How To Steps: [1] 2 3 4 5 Top Home
1. Begin with a piano keyboard showing 2 Octaves, 24 Notes This step shows the white and black note names on a Piano keyboard so that the note names are familar for later steps, and to show that the note names start repeating themselves after 12 notes.
The white keys are named using the alphabetic letters C, D, E, F, G, A, B, a pattern that repeats twice.
The group of white and black notes between C and B makes up one Octave of notes, 12 notes
Each black key could have two possible names - either a Sharp or a Flat.
In a later step, if a black note is used in this scale, the exact name (Sharp or Flat) will be decided.
Download and listen to step 1
Answer Parts: 1 2 How To Steps: 1 [2] 3 4 5 Top Home
2. Find the C Tonic note and one octave of notesThis step shows an octave of notes in C to identify the start and end notes of the scale.
The numbered notes are those that might be used when building this note scale.
But since this is a C scale, it is certain that notes 1 and 13 will be used in the scale.
Note 1 is the Tonic note - the starting note (C), and Note 13 is the same note name but one octave higher.
C Chromatic Scale - 1 Octave of NotesNo.12345678910111213
NoteCC# / Db D D# / Eb E F F# / Gb G G# / Ab A A# / Bb B C Download and listen to step 2
Answer Parts: 1 2 How To Steps: 1 2 [3] 4 5 Top Home
3. Use the C Major Scale IntervalsThis step applies the Major Scale note intervals to C so that the correct piano keys and note pitches can be identified.
The Major Scale uses the T T S T T T S interval counting rule to choose the notes in the scale.
To count up a Tone, count up by two physical piano keys, either white or black.
To count up a Semitone, count up from the last note up by onephysical piano key, either white or black.
The Tonic note (shown as *) is the starting point and is always the 1st note in the major scale.
Again, the final 8th note is the Octave note, having the same name as the Tonic note.C Major Scale IntervalsNo.12345678 Note CDEFGABC So why does the C Major scale have no sharps or flats ? It is because the Tone-Semitone intervals above all happen to fall on white keys, and never on black keys.
If any of the intervals fell on a black note, we would then need to decide whether that note is a sharp or a flat. C Major is the only Major scale having no sharps or flats.
A Natural Minor Scale is the Relative Minor key of C Major, and since it uses the same notes, it too has no sharps or flats either.
Download and listen to step 3
Answer Parts: 1 2 How To Steps: 1 2 3 [4] 5 Top Home
4. C Major Scale Notes DescendingThis step tries shows the notes in the scale when descending the C scale, going from the highest note sound back to the starting note.
For Major Scales, the notes names when descending are just the reverse of the ascending names.So assuming octave note 8 has been played in the step above, the notes now descend back to the Tonic.
C Major Scale Notes DescendingNo.1234567 Note BAGFEDC Download and listen to step 4
Answer Parts: 1 2 How To Steps: 1 2 3 4 [5] Top Home
5. C Major Scale DegreesThis step shows the C Major scale degrees - Tonic, Supertonic, Mediant, Subdominant, Dominant, Submediant, Leading Note/Tone, and Tonic.
Each of the notes in this scale has a Scale Degree Name, which describes the relationship of that note to the Tonic(1st) Note.Scale Degree names 1,2,3,4,5,6, and 8 below are always the same for all Major and Minor Scales (ie 1st note is always Tonic, 2nd is Supertonic etc.) , but obviously the note names will be different for each scale / key combination.
In the Major scale, the 7th note is called the Leading Note orLeading Tone because the sound of the 7th Note feels like it wants to resolve and finish at the Octave note, when all scale notes are played in sequence.
It does this because in this scale, the 7th note is only 1 semitone away from the 8th Note - the octave note. The C Harmonic Minor Scale and C Melodic Minor Scale scales share the same property - they both have only one semitone between the 7th and 8th Notes.
In contrast, the C Natural Minor Scale has a whole tone (two semitones, two notes on the piano keyboard) between the Seventh and Eighth notes, and the 7th note does not lean towards the 8th note in the same way. In this case, the 7th note is called the Subtonic.
C Major Scale Note and Degree NamesNote No.Scale Degree Note Name
1The Tonic (First Note) of C Major Scale is C
2The Supertonic (Second Note) of C Major Scale is D
3The Mediant (Third Note) of C Major Scale is E
4The Subdominant (Fourth Note) of C Major Scale is F
5The Dominant (Fifth Note) of C Major Scale is G
6The Submediant (Sixth Note) of C Major Scale is A
7The Leading Note/Tone (Seventh Note) of C Major Scale is B
8The Tonic (Eighth Note) of C Major Scale is C
CC SharpD FlatDD SharpE FlatEFF SharpG FlatGG SharpA FlatAA SharpB FlatBC Flat
Did you want...?Related LinksC Major Scale, C, C Major Scale Key Signature, C Relative Minor KeyMinor ScalesC Natural Minor Scale, C Harmonic Minor Scale, C Melodic Minor Scale
More ScalesC Chromatic Scale, C Pentatonic Major Scale, C Pentatonic Minor Scale, C Blues Scale