Chromatic facts for kids

A chromatic scale is like a musical ladder where every single step is used. It's a special musical scale that moves up or down using every possible semitone (which is also called a half-step). Think of a piano: when you play a chromatic scale, you hit every white and black key in a row, like C, C sharp, D, D sharp, E, F, and so on. You can start a chromatic scale on any note.

What Does "Chromatic" Mean?

The word "chromatic" comes from the Greek word chromos, which means "color".

A chromatic scale includes all twelve notes in an octave. On a piano, this means playing every white and black key in order. When music uses notes that are not part of its main diatonic scale, those extra notes are called "chromatic" notes. They add "color" and can make music sound more exciting or emotional," which is why they got their name.

History

In ancient Greece, musicians had different ways to tune their lyres (a type of harp). They had three main tunings, called genera. One was "diatonic," which used larger steps between notes. Another was "chromatic," which used smaller steps, including half steps. This was different from how we use the terms today, but it shows the idea of different note arrangements is very old.

By the 1500s, the word chromatic started to mean something closer to what we understand now. Composers like Orlande de Lassus wrote pieces that used many different notes and changed keys often. They called these "chromatic songs" because they were full of unexpected sounds, moving beyond the simple diatonic scales.

Understanding Chromatic Harmony

Chromatic harmony happens when music uses notes or chords that are not usually found in the main key of the song. Imagine a song is in the key of C major, which uses only white keys on a piano. If the composer suddenly adds a C sharp or a D sharp, those are chromatic notes.

Even though Bach used some chromatic harmony in the 18th century, it became much more popular with composers in the 19th century. Wagner, for example, wrote very chromatic music. His pieces often had many sharps and flats, and the music would frequently shift to different keys.

A famous example is the very first chord in his opera Tristan and Isolde. This chord is so well-known that it's called the Tristan chord. It's very chromatic and creates a lot of tension because it makes listeners wonder which key the music is in.

Related pages

• Scale (music)
• Tonality
• Serialism

Images for kids

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  Melodies can use many notes from the chromatic scale, even if they are based on a simpler scale. For example, the start of Henry Purcell's Thy Hand, Belinda (1689) uses eleven of the twelve possible notes!

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  Tetrachord genera of the four-string lyre, from The History of the Arts and Sciences of the Antients, Charles Rollin (1768). The text gives a typically fanciful account of the term chromatic.

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  Gamut as defined by George William Lemon, English Etymology, 1783.

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  The diatonic scale notes (above) and the non-scale chromatic notes (below)

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  Bernhard Ziehn's 1907 list of, "diatonic triads", diatonic seventh-chords," and two examples of, "diatonic ninth-chords," the "large" and "small" ninth chords; all from the C major or the C harmonic minor scale

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  Wagner, Die Walküre, act 3, magic sleep music

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  Chromatic (rear) and diatonic harmonicas

See also

In Spanish: Diatónico y cromático para niños