Category: Celtic Music

There are two octave-scales on the bagpipe: low G to high G; and low A to high A. Don’t confuse the range (one octave plus one note) with the scales.

An octave of notes on the bagpipes would be

• (low) A B C D E F (high) G (high) A; or,
• (low) G (low) A B C D E F (high) G

The scale is a sequence of 8 notes of tone and semi-tone intervals. The key signature indicates which of these tone and semi-tone intervals apply.

As the bagpipes do not have a way to play accidentals without using false fingering, the key signature is not written. Otherwise you would see an F# and C#. See What Key is Bagpipe Music written in

Keys with Sharps

To find the name of a key signature with sharps, look at the sharp farthest to the right. The key signature is the note a half step above that last sharp. Key signatures can specify major or minor keys. To determine the name of a minor key, find the name of the key in major and then count backwards three half steps.

Pictures borrowed from XYZ.com but could be regenerated by any music scribing software!

Keys with Flats

Determine the Key from the last note

In classical Sonata music, you can determine the key of the music from the tonic (root) of the last note/chord. This is because our ear says the tune doesn’t sound finished until the tonic is played.

That said, due to different modes of music, the key may not be what you think it is. As well, you could be in a (related) minor key rather than the major.

Each Major key has 1 major scale and 3 minor scales – Melodic, Harmonic, Natural.

Scale

Scale means ladder in latin.

A scale is a series of notes going up or down in pitch.

The scale of the bagpipe has the following tuning:

Tone + Tone + Semi-Tone + Tone + Tone + Semi-Tone + Tone.

The bagpipe scale is modal, so will sound odd to other musicians.

Diatonic Scale

The diatonic scale is composed of 8 adjacent notes each a tone or semi-tone apart. In this scale each note has a different name i.e. A B C D E F G A.

There are two different types of Diatonic scales:

1. Major scale
2. Minor scale

Scale Degrees

Each note within the scale has its own technical name (i.e. degree). They are also numbered with Roman numbers from the Tonic. Also see Interval.

1. Tonic (I)
2. Super Tonic (II)
3. Mediant (III)
4. Subdominant (IV)
5. Dominant (V)
6. Submediant (VI)
7. leading (VII)
8. Octave (VIII) or Tonic

Tonic

The Tonic gives the scale its name. It is the lowest and the highest note of a scale

Dominant

A chord built on the Dominant is so strong that it masters the key.

Mediant

The Mediant note is between the Tonic and the Dominant. It helps determine if the scale is a Major scale or a Minor scale.

Chromatic Scale

A chromatic scale is 12 notes that are a semi-tone apart. The scale can start on any note and when played covers an entire Octave.

If written, the scale employs sharps when ascending and flats when descending.

traditional scale – mixolydian scale

The Bagpipe scale consists of nine notes, low G to high A. The bagpipe scale is tuned close to but not exactly on the “concert bb” scale. The traditional (western) scale is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone, with the octave divided almost evenly into 12 parts. The Bagpipe scale is an octave (fairly) evenly divided into 8 parts. The tuning is close enough to the traditional scale that you can play along with a concert band, but be aware that your 7th (high g) is flat. This is known as an mixolydian scale.

Major Scale

A Major scale has 2 tetrachords. TETRA means four.

The tetrachord is 2 tones followed by a semi-tone. For example C, D, E, F. The second Tetrachord would be G, A, B, C.

In all major scales, the semi-tones are between the 3rd and 4th, and the 7th and 8th notes. (i.e. Whole tone, Whole tone, Semi-tone)

The Tonic (root note) of a Major scale with sharps is always the diatonic semi-tone above the 7th note. In the D scale example below, note that the 7th note (C#) is one diatonic semitone below the D of the Tonic. Also note that in the order of sharps (FCGDAEB) that only the sharps up to that 7th note exist within the scale (in this example F and C).

The Tonic of a Major scale with flats has similar rules. The scale is named for the 2nd last flat in the scale. See Db Scale below. Note that F Major Scale has only 1 flat so is an exception to this rule.

Notice the difference between the D and the Db scale is that the Db scale is shifted 1 semi-tone lower for every note of the scale compared to the D scale.

C Major scale

C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C

D Major Scale

D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D

Db Major Scale

Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db

F Major Scale

F G A Bb C D E F

Minor Scales

There are three types of scales:

1. natural minor scale
2. harmonic minor scale
3. melodic minor scale

Minor scales are not formed the same way as the Major scales. Instead of 2 tetrachords, the minor scales have a major inferior tetrachord and a minor inferior tetrachord. The difference between the superior tetrachord allows you to distinguish which type of minor scale we are dealing with.

Each Minor scale has a related Major scale in that they share the same key signature. The difference is the Tonic note. To find the related Minor scale of the Major scale, take the Tonic of the Major scale and move backwards three semitones. For example, the C Major scale is related to A Minor (C -> B -> Bb -> A). Another way to do this determination is to take the 6th note of the Major scale.

Major Tetrachord

Key of C Major:

C D E F (Tone Tone Semitone)

Minor Tetrachord

Key of E Minor (Bb Eb Ab):

C D E F (Tone Semitone Tone)

natural minor scale

The Natural Minor scale uses the exact same key signature as its related Major scale with no change.

Tone Semitone Tone Tone Semitone Tone Tone

harmonic minor scale

In the Harmonic Minor scale, you take the same key signature as the natural minor scale, but then raise the 7th note. If the 7th note is flat, you raise it that semitone to the natural note (i.e. Bb becomes B). If the note is already sharp, you raise it a second sharp (i.e. A# becomes B).

Tone Semitone Tone Tone Semitone 1.5 Tone Tone

D Harmonic Minor scale:

D E F G A Bb C# D

A Harmonic Minor scale:

A B C D E F G# A

melodic minor scale

A melodic minor scale has the 6th and 7th notes raised when ascending but played normally when descending.

A Melodic Minor (no sharps or flats)

A B C D E F# G# A G F E D C B A

D Melodic Minor (Db)

D E F G A B C# D C Bb A G F E D

Determining the Key of a tune

To determine the key, there are a couple of things you can look at:

1. the last note of the tune
   1. in Western music, a tune generally ends on the Tonic.
   2. bagpipe music can follow this rule to a certain extent, but we don’t have a lot of keys to play within.
2. the leading note (7th note) of the scale. This is dependent on the key signature.
   1. an accidental beside the raised 7th will generally indicate that this is a minor key.

If the tune doesn’t have the key signature written at the start, you can determine the key by making note of all of the accidentals within the tune. If they are all sharps, or all flats, you can determine the key by jotting down the list of sharps or flats, and determine which key has those in it.

For example, if you had:

• F#, C# and G#, you would have the key of A.
• F#, C#, G# and a B#, you will see that there are a bunch of missing intervening sharps and therefore B# would be an accidental. You would still have the key of A for this example.

Finding the key for flats works the same way.

If you have both flats and sharps, check if there is only 1 sharp. If so this is probably a flat minor key with the leading note (7th) raised.