Do Scales Sound Different?

T

thefish828

New member
So I have a quick question, and I've tried to elaborate on it, but no matter how I look at its quite simple: To my ear (as far as I know, I could be mistake), every scale sounds the same, just higher or lower pitched. For instance, if I heard a C major scale, and then a day later i heard an E major scale, I would probably say they were identicle. HOWEVER, I've heard various things, such as "D minor is the saddest of all keys." Is there any truth to this? Because if I had to guess, I'd say D minor sounds the exact same as a pitched-up C minor scale.

I'm taking theory courses at my university but for some reason I'm too embarassed to ask this one to my teacher...
 
some scales are exactly the same

here's something that probably uses better lingo than me: "The major and natural minor scales occur in pairs which share the same set of notes, but start in a different place. For example, if you stick to the white keys on the piano and start your scale on C, then it is the C major scale. If you start on A, it is the A minor scale. Since there are seven possible starting notes, you get seven possible "modes." The Greeks gave them all names."
 
Yes, thanks for taking your time PROTator, but I already knew that. We all know that scales are made up of patterns of intervals, but what I wanted to know was if C minor sounds any different than D minor, and why they say D minor is the saddest chord, when it's made of the same structure as a C minor cord, it's just a whole step higher.
 
You kind of answered your own question...
Yes, the two scales "sound" different for obvious reasons e.g. they start on different notes.
They "sound" the same to you because as the previous poster said they contain the same interval qualities. (W-h-W-W-h-W) you get the idea.

As for D Minor being the saddest...never heard that one, sorry.
There are definitely different moods associated with intervals & chords.

hope that helps
 
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Do you mean C flat and D sharp sounding the same.
 
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i also kind of have the same problem as you. if you take most songs and transpose them to a different scale, they still "sound" pretty much the same to me, so i don't get how there are sooo many songs.
 
D minor being "the saddest of all keys," is just a joke from the movie Spinal Tap. I don't know how it got turned to fact around here. I guess some moron heard the joke and thought it was true. Meh...

But yes, for all intents and purposes, when played without accompaniment, major scales all sound the same, just higher or lower. All minor scales sound the same, but different from major scales. Dorian, Locrian, Mixolydian, etc, those scales/modes all sound different, too.
 
well, they may sound the same, cuz they are, but they have different names because of theory, and formulas, thats the only reason i beleive, just so the mathematical formula has a correct answer and will work out
 
Thanks guys, that's the answer I was looking for. I didn't think they sounded any different, just higher or lower, but I've HEARD otherwise, so I wanted to make sure I knew which was proper. Thanks guys.
 
I'm a classical composer, maybe I can help a little bit...


Someone addressed the "saddest of all keys" bit up above, but truth is there is definitely something to the sound of tonalities at least with acoustically based instruments. At its core, this concept makes for a primitive sort of acoustics (think aqueous humours in medical history).

In classical music, if a composer set something in C minor, they had access to the lowest notes of most of the instruments in the wind section, esp. the woodwinds. The notes they produce vary markedly in acoustic signature depending on where on the horn the actual sound comes out (at the end versus somewhere in the middle, for example); thus, the composer could depend on being able to orchestrate a very intense, deep C minor chord in the winds if they so chose. Beethoven's 5th Symphony, 1st mvt. is considered so tonally powerful partly for this reason.


Also, thinking in terms of the low instruments, the bass end...A low F on a contrabass is so low that it doesn't carry a lot of actual force, just sheer mass. But the F an octave up doesn't have the same massive quality and instead sounds more strident and energetic. A low C (above the low F), though, has a combination of force and low-end mass, and is thus very intense. It's a function of the instrument's body shape and the string itself probably more than anything.

Although the varying character of low-note response is partly ameliorated in electronic instruments, some of it simply has to do with the human ear and the overtones that the notes produce, so there's still some truth to the idea that some notes carry more than others.

In higher ranges is where the difference in character really disappears in electronic instruments/sounds. There are no registers in a synth sound; a sawtooth wave doesn't have any acoustical vagaries to change its tone response from one note to the next.

The only way I've been able to consistently approximate the effect of mood with different keys has been through creative voicing when dealing with synths. The lower on the keyboard, the darker a chord will generally sound, and the more intense. So, adding an extra root and third an octave below one chord, but leaving them out for the next one, can make for different sorts of moods. Or play the chords with a bass root note present, and you'll catch just a hint of the shift in mood between tonalities.

I didn't want to start jumping into mathematical ratios and differential sub-frequencies, but as a result, I've rambled kind of badly..lol


edit: Oh, and definitely don't be embarrassed to ask your theory prof, either; this is far from an elementary concept, and I bet they would love to dive into it!
 
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