Many cringe when you mention music theory. I suspect in their mind, they are picturing sheet music and all those symbols. The truth is you can learn practical theory and never even touch on written music. That is the intent here.
Western music is comprised of 12 notes. They are C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, and B. I can only speculate as to how they came up with the naming scheme. They could have used any scheme they wanted. I suspect it had to do with the staff and keeping it compact. Doesn’t matter. It is what it is. We won’t be learning to read or write sheet music, so it is not relevant.
Each of the 12 notes are a half-step apart. A whole step is skipping one note. So from C to C# would be a half-step. From C to D skips the C# so it would be two half-steps with is a whole step. This half-step hole step relationship is at the heart of music theory so be sure you understand it.
So what do we do with this scale? Let’s give it a name so we can refer to it without explanation. All 12 notes is called a chromatic scale. That is; no notes are skipped as you play the scale. The first thing we need to learn in the way of scales is the major scale. It is the foundation for forming chords, scales and modes. We’ll get into definitions as we go. Let’s start with the C major scale (Cmaj). I start here because it uses all natural notes (no flats or sharps). When we start encountering flats and sharps they will be written as “Ab” A flat, or “A#” A sharp. A flat note is simple a half step below the natural note. Conversely, a sharp not is a half-step up from the natural note.
The Cmaj scale is: C, D, E, F, G, A, B and the octave C. There are seven notes with the new octave being 8. You could refert to it as 1 if you intend to continue up the scale. We can play the scale up or down. We can play any note order we want. There is a thing called scale degrees. That is simply assigning a number to each letter – 1 through 7. E would be the 3rd degree, G would be the 5th degree and so on. In live settings it is preferred to use the numbers because on stage where it is loud, C, D, E, G, and B all sound the same with different starting consonants. Very easy to mistake a D for a B or a G when called out.
Here is the chromatic scale again: C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B
I have bolded and italicized the notes of the Cmaj scale for clarity of explanation. Let’s examine the step relationship of the 7 notes. C to D is a whole step (we skipped the C#0. D to E is also a whole step. E to F is a half-step, F to G is a whole step. G to A is a whole step. A to be is a whole step. and B to C is a half step. If we wrote this out is step designations it would be: 2 2 1 2 2 2 1. Intervals is the term given to the distance between notes. That is to say a whole step is an interval (distance) of 2 half steps. A half-step is an interval (distance) of 1. Scales are a path up the notes based on a series of intervals. So a major scale is 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 regardless of the key it is played in. Now we see where the sharps and flats come in.
Take a look at the Dmaj scale. It starts on D. If we follow the maj scale pattern we have the first not a an interval of 2 which would be an E note. Look at the chromatic scale as you follow this. Now the next note is an interval of 2 also. That gives us an F#. Notice that while it is good to know what the notes of a scale are, it is more important to understand the interval pattern. It takes more effort to think “let’s see I’m on an F# flute so the first interval is 2 that means on the F# flute the second note would G# and that is such and such hole open. Much easier to know the chromatic scale and just go up 2 half-steps. This will be born out as we progress.
Let’s take a look at how this applies to the NAF. The major scale interval pattern is 2212221. Here’s how this plays on the NAF. I will use a 6 hole to demonstrate. You can do all this on a 5 hole as both are chromatic.
First let’s see the chromatic scale:
Notice that I did not include the A# at the low end of the scale. This is because some flutes because of physical factors can’t play it consistently. Your flute may require adjustment to the fingering. It is important to learn this scale and be proficient at it because you will be thinking in terms of intervals and not what holes are open or closed nor will you be thinking of what note is actually be played. It is all about intervals.
Now let’s look at the major scale:
I deliberately did not include a key for this scale. It is universal to the NAF. Also note that I kept hole 4 (I count from the bottom because I am a flute maker). This is because I make and play both the 5 and 6 hole flutes. This pattern works on both. Here is where we jump off the deep end: