Meaning & use
chromatic scale
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Meanings
nouncountablemusictechnical
In music, a series of twelve notes going up or down in semitones, using every note available in an octave.
Grammar: Countable: say a chromatic scale or the chromatic scale.
Patterns
- play a chromatic scale
- the chromatic scale in C
- ascend in a chromatic scale
The piano teacher asked her to play a chromatic scale from middle C to the next C.
A chromatic scale includes both the white and black keys on a piano.
He practiced the chromatic scale slowly to improve his finger control.
nouncountablemusic
A musical passage or exercise that moves mainly by semitones rather than by the notes of a particular key.
Grammar: Countable; often used to describe a melodic line, not just a practice exercise.
Patterns
- a passage in a chromatic scale
- sing a chromatic scale
The ending of the piece rises in a chromatic scale that sounds tense and dramatic.
Singers often warm up with a chromatic scale to loosen their voices.
Word forms
| plural | chromatic scales |
|---|
Common combinations
- play a chromatic scale
- She can play a chromatic scale in every key.
- ascending chromatic scale
- The violin line ends with an ascending chromatic scale.
- descending chromatic scale
- Practice the descending chromatic scale as well as the ascending one.
- the chromatic scale in C
- The chromatic scale in C uses all twelve notes starting on C.
- a chromatic scale passage
- That chromatic scale passage is the hardest part of the sonata.
Synonyms and how they differ
- twelve-tone scale
- A related term used especially in modern composition; it stresses the twelve equal notes rather than the semitone steps.
Opposites
Word family
- chromatic adjective
- Relating to notes that move by semitones, outside a single key.
- chromatically adverb
- In a chromatic way; moving by semitones.
- chromaticism noun
- The use of chromatic notes in a piece of music.
Commonly confused: chromatic scale or diatonic scale? chromatic scale or pentatonic scale?
chromatic scale vs diatonic scale
A diatonic scale uses only the notes of a key, such as do-re-mi, while a chromatic scale uses all twelve semitones.
chromatic scale vs pentatonic scale
A pentatonic scale has only five notes per octave, so it is much smaller than a chromatic scale.
Practice
What is a chromatic scale?
Choose one answer.
A chromatic scale contains all twelve semitones in an octave, so B is correct. A five-note scale is pentatonic, the white keys alone form a diatonic scale, and a rhythm pattern is not a scale at all.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “chromatic scale”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.