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Figure 3.29

“Augmented” Scale

Audio 19

The “Augmented” Scale

(click to see video)

“Nearly” Whole Tone and Lydian-Mixolydian

Two other scales having great currency in 20th Century music are identical in pitch
content and identical in their potential origin, but vastly different in context and
usage.

Figure 3.30 "“Nearly” Whole Tone and Lydian-Mixolydian"

compares the

Whole Tone scale to the

“Nearly” Whole Tone

28

Hexachord and the

Lydian-

Dominant

29

scale.Lydian-Dominant is only one label for this scale and is used here

as a convenience only. Other names are Lydian-Dominant (common to Jazz
pedagogy) or (the proper name) the Overtone Scale. These additional names will
not acquire meaning until the student has acquired additional information. Observe
that, despite differing orderings, the pitch-class content is identical for the
“Nearly” Whole Tone and Lydian-Dominant scales.

Figure 3.30

“Nearly” Whole Tone and Lydian-Mixolydian

Audio 20

“Nearly” Whole Tone and Lydian-Mixolydian

(click to see video)

The Nearly Whole Tone hexachord is just that: all whole steps except for an initial
half step. The Lydian-Mixolydian scale is so-named because the first tetrachord

28. A six-tone scale that is an

altered whole tone scale. One
pitch is altered to create a
single half step in the
collection. In this chapter it
has been listed half step first.
In other sources, there are
other orderings.

29. A heptatonic scale wherein the

first tetrachord resembles
Lydian mode (raised 4) and the
second tetrachord resembles
Mixolydian mode (lowered 7).

Chapter 3 The Foundations Scale-Steps and Scales

3.5 Other Commonly Used Scales

117

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Understanding the Music Theory

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