Pentatonic scale

A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale).

Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancient civilizations^[2] and are still used in various musical styles to this day. As Leonard Bernstein put it: "the universality of this scale is so well known that I'm sure you could give me examples of it, from all corners of the earth, as from Scotland, or from China, or from Africa, and from American Indian cultures, from East Indian cultures, from Central and South America, Australia, Finland ...now, that is a true musico-linguistic universal."^[3] There are two types of pentatonic scales: those with semitones (hemitonic) and those without (anhemitonic).

^ Bruce Benward and Marilyn Nadine Saker (2003), Music: In Theory and Practice, seventh edition (Boston: McGraw Hill), vol. I, pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0.
^ John Powell (2010). How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond. New York: Little, Brown and Company. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-316-09830-4.
^ Bernstein, L. (1976) The Unanswered Question, Cambridge Mass., Harvard University Press.

[B&S-1] Bruce Benward and Marilyn Nadine Saker (2003), Music: In Theory and Practice, seventh edition (Boston: McGraw Hill), vol. I, pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0.

[2] John Powell (2010). How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond. New York: Little, Brown and Company. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-316-09830-4.

[3] Bernstein, L. (1976) The Unanswered Question, Cambridge Mass., Harvard University Press.

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