The natural evolution of musical scales

Abstract

The 12‐tone chromatic scale shall be shown to be a natural and evolutionary phenomenon, due to the pitch/interval responses of human hearing and the integral harmonic series of vibrating strings, air columns, and vocal chords. The important implication is that if music were to begin all over again, from day one, the same scale system of 12 chromatic tones would result. Credibility is gained by considering the origins of the pentatonic scale, in use since primitive times and precursor to the major and chromatic scales. The pentatonic scale is polytenetic, having evolved independently in the earliest cultures of Europe, Japan, Africa, Americas, Oceania, etc. Historically the Pythagoreans suspected the universality of such musical scales which consequently influenced their search for a numerical universal “harmony” (i.e., harmony of the spheres). Specific examples of vibrating strings under uniform tension (rates of vibration being reciprocal to respective lengths) can be seen in relationship to Pythagorean efforts ot represent the universe in simple numeric/geometric expressions. Beyond such historical considerations, comprehensive evidence supports the premise that the 12‐tone scale system of music, rather than being invented or contrived, is a natural, evolutionary and universal manifestation.