What is a whole tone scale in music?
Q: What is a whole tone scale in music?
A: A whole tone scale is a scale in which each note is separated from the next one by an interval of a whole tone.
Q: How many notes are there between each neighbouring pair of notes of the whole-tone scale?
A: There is always one note (a semitone) in between each neighbouring pair of notes of the whole-tone scale.
Q: What are the notes present in the whole-tone scale?
A: Whatever note is started on, the whole tone scale will contain one of the following sets of notes: C, D, E, F#, G#, A# or C#, D#, F, G, A, B.
Q: How does a whole-tone scale played on a piano sound?
A: When a whole-tone scale is played on a piano, starting from a low note and moving up to high notes, while at the same time pressing the sustaining pedal (the right pedal), it makes a "dreamy" sound. It does not sound in any particular key, but floats along.
Q: Which composer used the whole-tone scale a lot in his music?
A: Debussy uses the whole-tone scale a lot in his music.
Q: Which Russian composers used the whole-tone scale in their operas?
A: Russian composers such as Glinka in his opera Ruslan and Ludmila and Borodin in Prince Igor used the whole-tone scale.
Q: Which other composers used the whole-tone scale besides Debussy and the Russian composers?
A: Later composers to use it include Alban Berg in his Violin Concerto, and Béla Bartók in his String Quartet No. 5. It has also been used in jazz.
