Chromatic scale and spelling

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Building scales

A chromatic scale moves through adjacent semitones in twelve-tone equal temperament. It contains twelve pitch classes per octave; including the repeated starting pitch produces thirteen note attacks. Distinguish the number of attacks from distinct pitch classes.

A chromatic passage does not automatically eliminate a tonal centre. Short passing movements can occur within tonal music. Sharp or flat spelling depends on musical direction and function as well as keyboard position. Learning the chromatic scale helps recognise those movements rather than requiring every melody to use all twelve classes.

Example

C–C-sharp–D has three notes spanning one whole tone overall.

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How many distinct chromatic pitch classes occupy an octave?

Related topics

References

Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom

Subject-expert review pending.