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Scale 1551: "JORian"

Bracelet Diagram

The bracelet shows tones that are in this scale, starting from the top (12 o'clock), going clockwise in ascending semitones. The "i" icon marks imperfect tones that do not have a tone a fifth above.

Tonnetz Diagram

Tonnetz diagrams are popular in Neo-Riemannian theory. Notes are arranged in a lattice where perfect 5th intervals are from left to right, major third are northeast, and major 6th intervals are northwest. Other directions are inverse of their opposite. This diagram helps to visualize common triads (they're triangles) and circle-of-fifth relationships (horizontal lines).

Keyboard Diagram





Other diagrams coming soon!

Common Names

Names are messy, inconsistent, polysemic, and non-bijective. If you see a name with lots of citations beside it, that's a good measure of credulity.

Name Sources

Analysis

Cardinality

Cardinality is the count of how many pitches are in the scale. Cardinalities can be expressed as an adjective, e.g. pentatonic, hexatonic, heptatonic, and so on.

 6 (hexatonic)

Pitch Class Set

The tones in this scale, expressed as numbers from 0 to 11.

 {0,1,2,3,9,10}

Leonard Notation

As practiced in the theoretical work of B P Leonard, this notation for describing a pitch class set replaces commas with subscripted numbers indicating the interval distance between adjacent tones. Convenient when you are doing certain kinds of analysis. The superscript in parentheses is the sonority's Brightness.

[0111213691102](25)

Rotational Symmetry

Some scales have rotational symmetry, sometimes known as "limited transposition". If there are any rotational symmetries, these are the intervals of periodicity.

 none

Reflection Axes

If a scale has an axis of reflective symmetry, then it can transform into itself by inversion. It also implies that the scale has Ridge Tones. Notably an axis of reflection can occur directly on a tone or half way between two tones.

 none

Palindromicity

A palindromic scale has the same pattern of intervals both ascending and descending.

 no

Chirality

A chiral scale can not be transformed into its inverse by rotation. If a scale is chiral, then it has an enantiomorph.

 yes
enantiomorph: 3597

Hemitonia

A hemitone is two tones separated by a semitone interval. Hemitonia describes how many such hemitones exist.

 4 (multihemitonic)

Cohemitonia

A cohemitone is an instance of two adjacent hemitones. Cohemitonia describes how many such cohemitones exist.

 2 (dicohemitonic)

Imperfections

An imperfection is a tone which does not have a perfect fifth above it in the scale. This value is the quantity of imperfections in this scale.

 4

Modes

Modes are the rotational transformations of this scale. This number includes the scale itself, so the number is usually the same as its cardinality; unless there are rotational symmetries then there are fewer modes.

 6

Prime Form

Describes if this scale is in prime form, using the Starr/Rahn algorithm.

 no
prime: 111

Forte Number

A code assigned by theorist Allen Forte, for this pitch class set and all of its transpositional (rotation) and inversional (reflection) transformations.

 6-Z3

Generator

Indicates if the scale can be constructed using a generator, and an origin.

 none

Deep Scale

A deep scale is one where the interval vector has 6 different digits, an indicator of maximum hierarchization.

 no

Interval Structure

Defines the scale as the sequence of intervals between one tone and the next.

 [1, 1, 1, 6, 1, 2]

Interval Vector

Describes the intervallic content of the scale, read from left to right as the number of occurences of each interval size from semitone, up to six semitones.

 <4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1>

Hanson's Interval Spectrum

The same as the Interval Vector, but expressed in a syntax used by Howard Hanson. Hanson categorizes all intervals as being one of six classes, and gives each a letter: p m n s d t, ordered from most consonant (p) to most dissonant (t). When an interval appears more than once in a sonority, it is superscripted with a number, like p2.

 p2m2n3s3d4t

Proportional Saturation Vector

First described by Michael Buchler (2001), this is a vector showing the prominence of intervals relative to the maximum and minimum possible for the scale's cardinality. A saturation of 0 means the interval is present minimally, a saturation of 1 means it is the maximum possible.

<0.8, 0.5, 0.6, 0, 0.4, 0.333>

Distribution Spectra

Describes the specific interval sizes that exist for each generic interval size. Each generic <g> has a spectrum {n,...}. The Spectrum Width is the difference between the highest and lowest values in each spectrum.

<1> = {1,2,6}
<2> = {2,3,7}
<3> = {3,4,8,9}
<4> = {5,9,10}
<5> = {6,10,11}

Spectra Variation

Determined by the Distribution Spectra; this is the sum of all spectrum widths divided by the scale cardinality.

 4.333

Maximally Even

A scale is maximally even if the tones are optimally spaced apart from each other.

 no

Maximal Area Set

A scale is a maximal area set if a polygon described by vertices dodecimetrically placed around a circle produces the maximal interior area for scales of the same cardinality. All maximally even sets have maximal area, but not all maximal area sets are maximally even.

 no

Interior Area

Area of the polygon described by vertices placed for each tone of the scale dodecimetrically around a unit circle, ie a circle with radius of 1.

1.433

Polygon Perimeter

Perimeter of the polygon described by vertices placed for each tone of the scale dodecimetrically around a unit circle.

5.071

Myhill Property

A scale has Myhill Property if the Distribution Spectra have exactly two specific intervals for every generic interval.

 no

Centre of Gravity Distance

When tones of a scale are imagined as physical objects of equal weight arranged around a unit circle, this is the distance from the center of the circle to the center of gravity for all the tones. A perfectly balanced scale has a CoG distance of zero.

 0.484886

Ridge Tones

Ridge Tones are those that appear in all transpositions of a scale upon the members of that scale. Ridge Tones correspond directly with axes of reflective symmetry.

 none

Propriety

Also known as Rothenberg Propriety, named after its inventor. Propriety describes whether every specific interval is uniquely mapped to a generic interval. A scale is either "Proper", "Strictly Proper", or "Improper".

Improper

Heteromorphic Profile

Defined by Norman Carey (2002), the heteromorphic profile is an ordered triple of (c, a, d) where c is the number of contradictions, a is the number of ambiguities, and d is the number of differences. When c is zero, the scale is Proper. When a is also zero, the scale is Strictly Proper.

(34, 9, 55)

Coherence Quotient

The Coherence Quotient is a score between 0 and 1, indicating the proportion of coherence failures (ambiguity or contradiction) in the scale, against the maximum possible for a cardinality. A high coherence quotient indicates a less complex scale, whereas a quotient of 0 indicates a maximally complex scale.

0.338

Sameness Quotient

The Sameness Quotient is a score between 0 and 1, indicating the proportion of differences in the heteromorphic profile, against the maximum possible for a cardinality. A higher quotient indicates a less complex scale, whereas a quotient of 0 indicates a scale with maximum complexity.

0.267

Brightness

Based on the theories of B P Leonard, Brightness is a measurement of interval content calculated by taking the sum of each tone's distance from the root. Scales with more tones at higher pitches will have a greater Brightness than those with fewer, lower pitches. Typically used to compare pitch class sets with the same cardinality.

25

Xenome

A naming schema invented by Qid Love, and published in their book The Book Of Xenomes. A xenome is a succinct encoding of the pitch class set as three hexadecimal characters, with reversed bits such that they read left to right as ascending pitches.

 F06

Lewin-Quinn FC Components

Conceived by David Lewin in 1959, and generalized by Ian Quinn; FC is a function that transforms the set by multiplying by a given number of semitones, then gives the total distance of the sum of the vectors produced by each tone when mapped to a circular plane. The result is a discrete Fourier transform that quantifies harmonic qualities. A more thorough and sensible explanation is coming in the book. FC Components can be used to analyze other tuning systems besides 12-TET. FC0 is the cardinality of the scale.

 FC0 = 6
FC1 = 2.909313
FC2 = 1.732051
FC3 = 1.414214
FC4 = 1.732051
FC5 = 1.239314
FC6 = 0

Generator

This scale has no generator.

Common Triads

These are the common triads (major, minor, augmented and diminished) that you can create from members of this scale.

* Pitches are shown with C as the root

Triad TypeTriad*Pitch ClassesDegreeEccentricityCloseness Centrality
Diminished Triadsa°{9,0,3}000

The following pitch classes are not present in any of the common triads: {1,2,10}

Since there is only one common triad in this scale, there are no opportunities for parsimonious voice leading between triads.

Modes

Modes are the rotational transformation of this scale. Scale 1551 can be rotated to make 5 other scales. The 1st mode is itself.

2nd mode:
Scale 2823		RULian
3rd mode:
Scale 3459		VOCian
4th mode:
Scale 3777		YARian
5th mode:
Scale 123		ASUian
6th mode:
Scale 2109		MUVian

Prime

The prime form of this scale is Scale 111

Scale 111AROian

Complement

The hexatonic modal family [1551, 2823, 3459, 3777, 123, 2109] (Forte: 6-Z3) is the complement of the hexatonic modal family [159, 993, 2127, 3111, 3603, 3849] (Forte: 6-Z36)

Inverse

The inverse of a scale is a reflection using the root as its axis. The inverse of 1551 is 3597

Scale 3597WIJian

Interval Matrix

Each row is a generic interval, cells contain the specific size of each generic. Useful for identifying contradictions and ambiguities.

Contradictions (34)

Ambiguities(9)

Hierarchizability

Based on the work of Niels Verosky, hierarchizability is the measure of repeated patterns with "place-finding" remainder bits, applied recursively to the binary representation of a scale. For a full explanation, read Niels' paper, Hierarchizability as a Predictor of Scale Candidacy. The variable k is the maximum number of remainders allowed at each level of recursion, for them to count as an increment of hierarchizability. A high hierarchizability score is a good indicator of scale candidacy, ie a measure of usefulness for producing pleasing music. There is a strong correlation between scales with maximal hierarchizability and scales that are in popular use in a variety of world musical traditions.

kHierarchizabilityBreakdown PatternDiagram
111111000001101551k = 1h = 1
211111000001101551k = 2h = 1
311111000001101551k = 3h = 1
411111000001101551k = 4h = 1
511111000001101551k = 5h = 1

Enantiomorph

Only scales that are chiral will have an enantiomorph. Scale 1551 is chiral, and its enantiomorph is scale 3597

Scale 3597WIJian

Center of Gravity

If tones of the scale are imagined as identical physical objects spaced around a unit circle, the center of gravity is the point where the scale is balanced.

Position

with origin in the center

(0.083333, -0.477671)
Distance from Center0.484886
Angle in degrees

measured clockwise starting from the root.

9.896
Angle in cents

100 cents = 1 semitone.

32.986667

Transformations:

In the abbreviation, the subscript number after "T" is the number of semitones of tranposition, "M" means the pitch class is multiplied by 5, and "I" means the result is inverted. Operation is an identical way to express the same thing; the syntax is <a,b> where each tone of the set x is transformed by the equation y = ax + b. A note about the multipliers: multiplying by 1 changes nothing, multiplying by 11 produces the same result as inversion. 5 is the only non-degenerate multiplier, with the multiplier 7 producing the inverse of 5.

Abbrev Operation Result Abbrev Operation Result
T0 <1,0> 1551       T0I <11,0> 3597
T1 <1,1> 3102      T1I <11,1> 3099
T2 <1,2> 2109      T2I <11,2> 2103
T3 <1,3> 123      T3I <11,3> 111
T4 <1,4> 246      T4I <11,4> 222
T5 <1,5> 492      T5I <11,5> 444
T6 <1,6> 984      T6I <11,6> 888
T7 <1,7> 1968      T7I <11,7> 1776
T8 <1,8> 3936      T8I <11,8> 3552
T9 <1,9> 3777      T9I <11,9> 3009
T10 <1,10> 3459      T10I <11,10> 1923
T11 <1,11> 2823      T11I <11,11> 3846
Abbrev Operation Result Abbrev Operation Result
T0M <5,0> 1581      T0MI <7,0> 1677
T1M <5,1> 3162      T1MI <7,1> 3354
T2M <5,2> 2229      T2MI <7,2> 2613
T3M <5,3> 363      T3MI <7,3> 1131
T4M <5,4> 726      T4MI <7,4> 2262
T5M <5,5> 1452      T5MI <7,5> 429
T6M <5,6> 2904      T6MI <7,6> 858
T7M <5,7> 1713      T7MI <7,7> 1716
T8M <5,8> 3426      T8MI <7,8> 3432
T9M <5,9> 2757      T9MI <7,9> 2769
T10M <5,10> 1419      T10MI <7,10> 1443
T11M <5,11> 2838      T11MI <7,11> 2886

The transformations that map this set to itself are: T0

Nearby Scales:

These are other scales that are similar to this one, created by adding a tone, removing a tone, or moving one note up or down a semitone.

Scale 1549JOQian
Scale 1547JOPian
Scale 1543JOMian
Scale 1559JOWian
Scale 1567Alt 6345
Scale 1583Alt 6345
Scale 1615Alt 634
Scale 1679Dorian 234
Scale 1807Alt 6534
Scale 1039GIXian
Scale 1295HUYian
Scale 527DEDian
Scale 2575PUMian
Scale 3599Heptatonic Chromatic 4

This scale analysis was created by Ian Ring, Canadian Composer of works for Piano, and total music theory nerd. Scale notation generated by Lilypond, graph visualization by Graphviz, audio by TiMIDIty and FFMPEG. All other diagrams and visualizations are © Ian Ring. Some scale names used on this and other pages were invented by living persons, and used here with permission where required: notably collections of names by William Zeitler, Justin Pecot, Rich Cochrane, and Robert Bedwell.

Pitch spelling algorithm employed here is adapted from a method by Uzay Bora, Baris Tekin Tezel, and Alper Vahaplar. (DOI, Patent owner: Dokuz Eylül University, Used with Permission.

Tons of background resources contributed to the production of this summary; for a list of these peruse this Bibliography. Special thanks to Richard Repp for helping with technical accuracy, and George Howlett for assistance with naming the Carnatic ragas. Thanks to Niels Verosky for collaborating on the Hierarchizability diagrams. Gratitudes to Qid Love for the Xenomes. Thanks to B P Leonard for the Brightness metrics. Thanks to u/howaboot for inventing the Center of Gravity metrics.