Acoustic scale

In music, the acoustic scale, overtone scale, Lydian dominant scale (Lydian 7 scale), or the Mixolydian 4 scale is a seven-note synthetic scale. It is the fourth mode of the ascending melodic minor scale. { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { \clef treble \time 7/4 c4^\markup { Acoustic scale on C } d e fis g a bes c } } This differs from the major scale in having an augmented fourth and a minor seventh scale degree. The term "acoustic scale" is sometimes used to describe a particular mode of this seven-note collection (e.g. the specific ordering C–D–E–F–G–A–B) and is sometimes used to describe the collection as a whole (e.g. including orderings such as E–F–G–A–B–C–D). In traditional music, the overtone scale persists in the music of peoples of South Siberia, especially in Tuvan music. Overtone singing and the sound of the Jew's harp are naturally rich in overtones, but melodies performed on the igil (bowed instrument distantly related to the violin) and plucked string instruments such as the doshpuluur or the chanzy also often follow the overtone scale, sometimes with pentatonic slices. The acoustic scale appears sporadically in nineteenth-century music, notably in the works of Franz Liszt and Claude Debussy. It also plays a role in the music of twentieth-century composers, including Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, and Karol Szymanowski, who was influenced by folk music from the Polish Highlands. The acoustic scale is also remarkably common in the music of Nordeste, the northeastern region of Brazil (see Escala nordestina). It plays a major role in jazz harmony, where it is used to accompany dominant seventh chords starting on the first scale degree. The term "acoustic scale" was coined by Ernő Lendvai in his analysis of the music of Béla Bartók. The name "acoustic scale" refers to the resemblance to the eighth through 14th partials in the harmonic series (). Starting on C1, the harmonic series is C1, C2, G2, C3, E3, G3, B3*, C4, D4, E4, F4*, G4, A4*, B4*, B4, C5 ...