Tetratonic scales were common among thePlains Indians, though less common than thepentatonic scale.[4] Amongst the Arapaho, Blackfoot, Crow, Omaha, Kiowa, Pawnee, and Sioux, as well as somePlateau tribes, especially the Flathead, the tetratonic and pentatonic scales used are anhemitonic (that is, they do not include semitones).[5] Tetratonic scales have also been noted among the music of theCreek Indians,[6] and in theGreat Basin region among the Washo, Ute, Paiute, and Shoshone.[7] In theSouthwest, theNavajo people also largely used the pentatonic and tetratonic, occasionally also tritonic scales.[8]
A 1969 study by ethnomusicologistMervyn McLean noted that tetratonic scales were the second-most common type among the Maori tribes surveyed, accounting for 31% of scales used. The most common weretritonic (3-note) scales at 47%, while the third-most wasditonic (two-note) scales at 17%.[10]
Tetratonic music was noted as common in Polynesia andMelanesia.[11] On Guadalcanal in particular, anhemitonic pentatonic and tetratonic scales are the predominant types, although the minor second does nevertheless occasionally appear as a melodic interval. The most often used melodic intervals, however, are the major second, minor third, perfect fourth, perfect fifth, and octave.[12]
The main instrument in the Lobi area ofGhana is the xylophone, some of which are tuned to a tetratonic scale.[13] In eastern Uganda, the Gwere use for their six-string harp (calledtongoli) a tetratonic scale in which all the intervals are nearly equal, which to Western ears sounds like a chain ofminor thirds.[14]
The second-earliest scales of Scandinavian, German, English, and Scottish folk music are believed to have been pentatonic, themselves developed from an earlier tetratonic scale.[18][failed verification] Tetratonic scales, along with pentatonic scales, account for 54% of songs in the traditionaljoik repertoire of the European ArcticSami people, where the singing range extends to a tenth or eleventh.[19]
The predominant style of traditional music from thePeloponnese region of Greece is a mixture of Christian, Albanian, andVlach. It employs tetratonic, pentachordal, and pentatonic scales, around the notes of whichmicrotonalornamentation (stolidia/psevtikes) occurs.[20]
A rare example of an art-music composition based entirely on a tetratonic scale is the early minimalist workReed Phase (1966), bySteve Reich, which is based entirely on a single five-note cell, or "basic unit", repeated continually throughout the entire work. Because the note A occurs twice in this pattern, there are only four pitches in all.[21]
^Bruno Nettl, Victoria Lindsay Levine, andElaine Keillor (2001), "Amerindian Music",The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited byStanley Sadie andJohn Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers, §2(ii).
^Bruno Nettl, Victoria Lindsay Levine, andElaine Keillor (2001), "Amerindian Music",The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited byStanley Sadie andJohn Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers, §2(v).
^J. H. Kwabena Nketia (2001) "Ghana, Republic of [formerly Gold Coast]",The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited byStanley Sadie andJohn Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
^Sue Carole DeVale (2001) "Harp, §III: Africa",The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited byStanley Sadie andJohn Tyrrell, London: Macmillan Publishers.
^Rechberger, Herman (2018).Scales and Modes around the World. Fennica Gehrman Oy. p. 267.
^Sudhibhushan Bhattacharya (1968).Ethno-musicology and India. Indian Publications. p. 54. Retrieved22 June 2012.
^Sotirios Chianis and Rudolph M. Brandl (2001) "Greece, §IV: Traditional Music",The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited byStanley Sadie andJohn Tyrrell, London: Macmillan Publishers.
^Keith Potter (2000).Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 181.ISBN978-0-521-01501-1.
Bartha, Dénes. 1963. "Le développement de la résonance dans les musiques évoluées: Occident au XXe siècle—La musique de Bartók". InLa résonance dans les échelles musicales, edited by Édith Weber, 279–90. Colloques Internationaux du CNRS 516. Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
Griffiths, Paul. 2001. "Dusapin, Pascal".The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited byStanley Sadie andJohn Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
Ho, Allan B. 2001. "Lee, Dai-Keong".The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited byStanley Sadie andJohn Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
Ramón y Rivera, Luis Felipe. 1969. "Formaciones Escalísticas en la Etnomúsica Latinoamericana".Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council 1:200–25.
Roberts, Shawn M. 2010. "Aztec Musical Styles in Carlos Chávez'sXochipilli: An Imagined Aztec Music and Lou Harrison'sThe Song of Quetzalcóatl: A Parallel and Comparative Study". DMA thesis. Morgantown: West Virginia University.
Ulveling, Paul. 2001. "Cigrang, Edmond".The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited byStanley Sadie andJohn Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
