The Exciting Universe Of Music Theory

presents

more than you ever wanted to know about...

Scale 2977

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. Dotted lines indicate axes of symmetry.

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).

Analysis

Cardinality Cardinality is the count of how many pitches are in the scale.	6 (hexatonic)
Pitch Class Set The tones in this scale, expressed as numbers from 0 to 11	{0,5,7,8,9,11}
Forte Number A code assigned by theorist Alan Forte, for this pitch class set and all of its transpositional (rotation) and inversional (reflection) transformations.	6-Z10
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: 187
Hemitonia A hemitone is two tones separated by a semitone interval. Hemitonia describes how many such hemitones exist.	3 (trihemitonic)
Cohemitonia A cohemitone is an instance of two adjacent hemitones. Cohemitonia describes how many such cohemitones exist.	1 (uncohemitonic)
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 does not include the scale itself, so the number is usually one less than its cardinality; unless there are rotational symmetries then there are even fewer modes.	5
Prime Form Describes if this scale is in prime form, using the Rahn/Ring formula.	no prime: 187
Deep Scale A deep scale is one where the interval vector has 6 different digits.	no
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.	[3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 1]
Interval Spectrum The same as the Interval Vector, but expressed in a syntax used by Howard Hansen.	p²m³n³s³d³t
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> = {1,2,5} <2> = {2,3,6,7} <3> = {4,8} <4> = {5,6,9,10} <5> = {7,10,11}
Spectra Variation Determined by the Distribution Spectra; this is the sum of all spectrum widths divided by the scale cardinality.	3.667
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.	1.866
Polygon Perimeter Perimeter of the polygon described by vertices placed for each tone of the scale dodecimetrically around a unit circle.	5.485
Myhill Property A scale has Myhill Property if the Interval Spectra has exactly two specific intervals for every generic interval.	no
Balanced A scale is balanced if the distribution of its tones would satisfy the "centrifuge problem", ie are placed such that it would balance on its centre point.	no
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

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 Type	Triad^*	Pitch Classes	Degree	Eccentricity	Closeness Centrality
Major Triads	F	{5,9,0}	1	2	1
Minor Triads	fm	{5,8,0}	2	1	0.67
Diminished Triads	f°	{5,8,11}	1	2	1

The following pitch classes are not present in any of the common triads: {7}

Above is a graph showing opportunities for parsimonious voice leading between triads^*. Each line connects two triads that have two common tones, while the third tone changes by one generic scale step.

Diameter	2
Radius	1
Self-Centered	no
Central Vertices	fm
Peripheral Vertices	f°, F

Modes

Modes are the rotational transformation of this scale. Scale 2977 can be rotated to make 5 other scales. The 1st mode is itself.

2nd mode: Scale 221
3rd mode: Scale 1079
4th mode: Scale 2587
5th mode: Scale 3341
6th mode: Scale 1859

Prime

The prime form of this scale is Scale 187

Scale 187

Complement

The hexatonic modal family [2977, 221, 1079, 2587, 3341, 1859] (Forte: 6-Z10) is the complement of the hexatonic modal family [317, 977, 1103, 2599, 3347, 3721] (Forte: 6-Z39)

Inverse

The inverse of a scale is a reflection using the root as its axis. The inverse of 2977 is 187

Scale 187

Enantiomorph

Only scales that are chiral will have an enantiomorph. Scale 2977 is chiral, and its enantiomorph is scale 187

Scale 187

Transformations:

T₀	2977	T₀I	187
T₁	1859	T₁I	374
T₂	3718	T₂I	748
T₃	3341	T₃I	1496
T₄	2587	T₄I	2992
T₅	1079	T₅I	1889
T₆	2158	T₆I	3778
T₇	221	T₇I	3461
T₈	442	T₈I	2827
T₉	884	T₉I	1559
T₁₀	1768	T₁₀I	3118
T₁₁	3536	T₁₁I	2141

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 2979				Gyptian
Scale 2981				Ionolian
Scale 2985				Epacrian
Scale 2993				Stythian
Scale 2945
Scale 2961				Bygimic
Scale 3009
Scale 3041
Scale 2849
Scale 2913
Scale 2721				Raga Puruhutika
Scale 2465				Raga Devaranjani
Scale 3489
Scale 4001
Scale 929
Scale 1953

This scale analysis was created by Ian Ring, Canadian Composer of works for Piano, and total music theory nerd. The software used to generate this analysis is an open source project at GitHub. Scale notation generated by VexFlow, graph visualization by Graphviz, and MIDI playback by MIDI.js. Some scale names used on this and other pages are ©2005 William Zeitler (http://allthescales.org) used with permission.

Pitch spelling algorithm employed here is adapted from a method by Uzay Bora, Baris Tekin Tezel, and Alper Vahaplar. (An algorithm for spelling the pitches of any musical scale) Contact authors Patent owner: Dokuz Eylül University, Used with Permission. Contact TTO

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.

Scale 2977

Bracelet Diagram

Tonnetz Diagram

Analysis

Cardinality

Pitch Class Set

Polygon Perimeter

Common Triads

Modes

Prime

Complement

Inverse

Enantiomorph

Transformations:

Nearby Scales: