A Journey Through East Asia
Learning from the natural sounds of the Oriental and Japanese cultures.
Feeling the Wind Around the World
It’s May 1st, 2024, and the beginning of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, so I though we could try check out some of the theory within these cultures. I want to make sure that what is discussed here can be used in and out of cultural music. Taking a deep dive into these cultures will give you an immense amount of information so I’ll focus on pentatonic scales, an interpretation of pentatonics, and some interesting views on quartal harmony.
This may sound like you need a degree to understand it, but that won’t be the case. All these concepts are easily relatable to county, jazz, and blue grass just to name a few styles. We will talk about some of the finer details and imagine the sound of wind on the grass in both Japan and America. The few things we’ll talk about are just scratching the surface of what eastern musicians have discovered.
Keep in mind that many of the concepts within eastern music theory were mainly adapted by the player or composer. To create unique sounds many people would use five-note pentatonic scales in which the notes were hand-selected. This means that there are many pentatonic scales to choose from. With a short scale the chord choices become limited in a good way. Instead of focusing on three or four-note triads and tetrachords we can use two-note dyads or even just a single low tone note. These customized scales and simple choices end up allowing the melody to stand out. This is like taking a low note as the wind and then using a simple melody to transform the wind into a breeze or a gust.
The Pentatonic Scale
With so many five-note scales used we should start with the standard Pentatonic Scale. This just happens to line up with the Oriental Scale and, to be completely honest, I would not be surprised to find other names for it from eastern cultures. This scale is akin to the Major Scale in western music because it can be used as a standard way of thinking about scales.
Above we have the C Major Pentatonic and F# Major Pentatonic scales. I included both scales because C Major is the first scale most students learn and F# Major Pentatonic only uses the black keys on the piano. This makes playing the scale easy for pianists at any level.
Like the Major which uses degrees 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, the Major Pentatonic scale drops degrees 4 and 7. Doing this retains the upbeat and positive vibe found in blue grass and old school country music. Without the 4th and 7th degrees we avoid any modal sounds. The three major modes are Ionian (with degrees 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), Lydian (with degrees 1, 2, 3, #4, 5, 6, 7), and Mixolydian (with degrees 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7). Without a 4th or 7th degree note the Major Pentatonic scale has a bright major sound without any tension.
Another great feature of this scale is that without a 4th or 7th degree we lose our sense of Functional Harmony. In Functional Harmony, chords that do not use the 4th degree note are Tonic chords and are at rest. Chords with the 4th degree note, but not the 7th degree note, are Pre-Dominant and have a mild tension. Dominant chords with high tension include both the 4th and 7th degree notes. With only Tonic chords available we can only create chords and melodies that are at rest. This is why all those relaxing eastern music sounds so… relaxing.
If we chose to switch to a minor sound, then we would simply start on the 6th degree note of the Major Pentatonic scale to get the Minor Pentatonic scale as shown below.
In Minor Pentatonic we avoid modal sounds of Dorian, Phrygian, and Aeolian because we do not have degrees 2, b2, 6, or b6. Those degrees are what give the minor modes their sound. The big difference from major is that we do have degrees 4 and b7. We can use these degree notes to create Tonic, Pre-Dominant- and Dominant chords and melodies. Think of it like this: Major Pentatonic creates broad bright sounds while Minor Pentatonic gives us distinct minimalist sounds.
The Yo Scale
There are many five-note Japanese scales that immediately give the listener a sense of well placed tension and release. The Yo Scale is very similar to the Major Pentatonic scale with one big change: the 3rd degree is omitted, and we gain the 4th degree. Without the 3rd we lose the sound of major. But there’s a cool exception to that.
When we think of the Yo scale as degrees 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 we can imagine it replacing the Major Scale. Yo can be played “over” it and replace the scale and the first mode of the Major Scale: Ionian. With a 4th degree available we can start our scale at that note and end up playing the Yo Scale as the Major Pentatonic scale. The main difference is that Major Pentatonic starts on the 4th degree of the Major Scale, so it is “over” the Lydian mode.
Check out the chart above. We start with the Yo Scale with the notes C, D, F, G, and A. We then move to F to create the Major Pentatonic scale with the same notes of C, D, F, G, and A.
If you try to play the Yo Scale in C and resolve to C as the Tonic, you may find it difficult depending on how you’ve learned music. Classical musicians treat chords like CMaj7 (C-E-G-B) as an unresolved chord because B is the Leading Tone, which wants to resolve to C. Jazz musicians view CMaj7 as a chord with “color”. That Leading Tone of B is simply a beautiful unresolved expression. And besides, we already have the note C, so who cares?
No matter how you view C Yo over C Ionian, or F Major Pentatonic or F Lydian, western musicians would be wise to be weary of the note F in this context. Even thought we may intend on resolve the C Yo Scale to C, we can easily find ourselves moving toward F as the Tonic because us Westerners are so used to hearing F Major Pentatonic over the F Major Scale. To keep this from happening we can apply a little acceptance found in the Jazz mentality. Try including the notes E or B from time to time when playing the C Yo Scale. This will help ground you and the listener within a Tonic of C.
Of course, you could throw caution to the wind and allow yourself to start in C Yo over C Ionian, but end up in F Major Pentatonic over F Ionian. Doing this would change B to Bb and make F the 1st degree. Try experimenting with this yourself.
Layering Quartal Triads
With the Major Pentatonic Scale and Yo Scale at hand we can add in some melodies. But how do we do that without just playing what’s available? Well, since we are already using scales based on what they provide we should turn to some arpeggios that provide a concept rather than a rule.
Above we have the notes C and F in green making an interval known as a Perfect Fourth or P4. The notes between C and F are pink and will be our “color” notes. The way this works is we use an interval of a P4 to act as the outer frame of a chord. Within that frame is the “color”. Some notes provide more tension than others.
Try playing the following notes in four bars in ¾ time: | C D F | F Eb C | C E F | F Db C |. Each bar continually becomes more tense. The first two bars start with a note, move a whole step or Major Second, and then complete the P4 by moving a Minor Third. The last two bars start with a note, move a Major Third, and then complete the P4 by moving a half-step or Minor Second.
The idea is that moving through a note within a P4 adds one note of color. We’re not trying to go fully chromatic here. We just want to “touch” upon a brief color. It’s like having a nice painting and then deciding to add one last brush stroke with a color that isn’t on the pallet. So, let’s try out this idea in a more abstract way.
Above is the same “P4 Color” concept super imposed on C Yo and F Major Pentatonic. With both scales using the same notes we can play our P4 colors within the confines of C to F as a P4 and F to Bb as a P4. In other words, C to F to Bb are two overlapping quartal dyads. They are both two-note chords with a Perfect Fourth interval that overlap on the note F.
This is where music can be hard to understand in words and is better off being felt. Check out this audio example that uses the above chart and let me know what you think of it by leaving a comment. And, as always, if you have a question then ask away in the comments as well. Thanks!
