Musical terms

Below are definitions of important musical terms that you will find throughout our online shop.

What is a pentatonic scale?

A pentatonic scale consists of five notes.

The pentatonic instruments from Manufaktur Wiener are tuned in a so-called anhemitonic scale, a scale without half notes. In other words, this is a scale that consists solely of whole notes, for example, the white keys on a piano.

What makes a pentatonic scale special is, that any combination of notes can be played to create a pleasant melody.

This feature makes the pentatonic scale a joyful musical experience for children and musical novices alike.

Many children´s songs and music styles from diverse cultures are based on a pentatonic scale and it is probably one of the oldest scales in history.

The drawback of the pentatonic scale is, that melodies that are based on the more conventional diatonic scales (major and minor), cannot always be played.

What is a diatonic scale?

Most scales used in Western music are diatonic, including the well-known major and minor scales. This system is based on seven notes, where both half notes and whole notes are used. The difference between a minor scale and a major scale is the position of the half notes between the whole notes. In a major scale, the half notes are between the 3_^rd and 4_^th and the 6_^th and 7_^th notes. In a minor scale, the half notes are between the 2_^nd and 3_^rd and the 5_^th and 6_^th notes.

What is chromatic tuning?

A chromatic scale divides an octave in twelve half note steps. We label our instruments as chromatic, when all twelve half notes can be played.