chromatic scale

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chromatic scale

n. Music

A scale consisting of 12 semitones.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

chromatic scale

(Classical Music) music a twelve-note scale including all the semitones of the octave

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

chromat′ic scale′

a musical scale progressing by semitones.

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Noun

chromatic scale - a 12-note scale including all the semitones of the octave

musical scale, scale - (music) a series of notes differing in pitch according to a specific scheme (usually within an octave)

Translations

kromatikus

scala cromatica

kromatisk skala

References in classic literature ?

The human eye is an imperfect instrument; its range is but a few octaves of the real 'chromatic scale.' I am not mad; there are colors that we cannot see.

View in context

But suddenly a storm came on, chromatic scales and diminished sevenths were heard in the orchestra, everyone ran off, again dragging one of their number away, and the curtain dropped.

View in context

The 'normal' sounds of a carillon do sound offkey at times because they're based on a chromatic scale different from pianos and organs, but Coby could sense something else was wrong.

Solidarity bells

Etudes 43-60 move along the continuum using synthetic scales all the way through to the chromatic scale, first with emphasis on the tonic in Etudes 51-52, and then free of tonic pull in Etudes 55-56.

Etudes a la Modes

The non-diatonic subject of the fugue contains 10 notes from the chromatic scale, and grows out of a concise head in the booming register of the C2-C3 octave.

Miloslav Kabelac symphonist

Vainberg structures his Preludes around the chromatic scale, moving CCi-D, etc., until reaching B by the twelfth prelude.

Mieczyslaw Weinberg

Total serialism was an organicist metaphor that promised formal self-similarity, and Stockhausen's recombinatory refashioning of this classic musical serialism grounds Klang on a twenty-four-note, two-octave chromatic scale.

Clock work: George E. Lewis on Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klang

With the full chromatic scale, the team says Kurv could be a useful tool forAaAeAeA guitarists andmusician

Video: This Air Guitar Really Rocks

The skin color was measured by Von Luschan's chromatic scale. This method is used to grade the skin color.

Hypovitaminosis D and its association with lifestyle factors

This melody shows characteristics often associated with 20th century lines: irregular phrasing, wide range, extreme leaps, use of the chromatic scale, and harmonic independence.

Manuel M. Ponces song cycles: selected harmonic aspects

"Yes, he was taking the development of the late 19th century to its ultimate conclusion and serialising the chromatic scale, which was almost mathematical.

Finding the right formula for score; Chris Morley talks to composer Adrian Sutton about his music for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

A useful appendix explains diminished seventh chords and arpeggios and the chromatic scale, as well as providing a Chord Reference Guide and Glossary of Music Terms.