C Ancient Chinese Scale on the Piano - How to play, How to improvise, How to compose music with this scale
Notes: C, D, E, F#, G, and A - Key: C - Origin: Chinese - Category: Heptatonic Scales
The C Ancient Chinese uses seven notes per octave. Because of this same reason it is a member of the so called Heptatonic -scales that have Seven-note (or Seven-tone). On the piano keyboard, it is made up of one black keys: F# and five white keys: C, D, E, G, and A. This combination makes this scale - as well as the C Qing Shang, C Qing Yu, and C Quan Ming - as great choices for composing or improvising Chinese music.
If we take a look a the key signature of the C Ancient Chinese Scale we can find it has no flats and one sharps. Therefore, on sheet music you will find one accidentals on the score. The notes of this scale are: C, D, E, F#, G, and A.
How to play the C Ancient Chinese scale?
- 1To play the C Ancient Chinese on your piano, start on the Root note. Play C, the first note of the scale.
- 2Continue with rest of the notes that shape the scale, play D, E, F#, G, and A.
- 3Return to the home of the C Ancient Chinese scale. Play again C -the tonic of the scale- to mark its ending.
How to play the scale in descending fashion?
- 1Begin on the last note. Play the C, the last (and first) note of the scale.
- 2Go down. Play A, G, F#, E, and D.
- 3Reach the home again. Establish tonality by playing the tonic of the C Ancient Chinese scale: C.
- 4Tip. If you want to learn how to improvise or compose your own music using the C Ancient Chinese scale or any other scale, check out our step-by-step online piano lessons, piano courses, and interactive piano apps and enjoy thousands of interactive multimedia piano animations. Discover 'Logic Behind Music' and learn how to play your favorite songs, play by ear, improvise, and even create your own music!
