31 Pentatonic Music
The Pentatonic Scale
Pentatonic scales are the basis of most ancient folk music. Chinese, Korean, Native American, Celtic, Hungarian, American, Spiritual, and numerous other folk melodies are often in the pentatonic idiom.
The pentatonic system lacks dissonances (m2, M7, A4, d5), making pentatonic melodies an ideal tool for early music education.
Other kinds of pentatonic combinations are possible, but the most prevalent form used in folk music is do – re – mi – so – la and its permutations.
| (1) d r m s l | (2) r m s l d’ | (3) m s l d’ r’ | (4) s l d’ r’ m’ | (5) l d’ r’ m’ s’ |
Practice 1
Memorize the intervallic vocabulary of the pentatonic system:
Practice 2