PENTATONIC

PENTATONIC is a sound system with 5 steps within an octave. P. is the basis of mode thinking of many peoples including Bashkirs, Tatars, Maris, Chuvashes, Mordovians, Udmurts living in the Volga and Urals regions. There are 4 types of P.: semitoneless (angemitone), semitone, mixed, tempered. The sounds of semitoneless P. can include sounds of pure fifths (do-sol-re-la-mi); there are 2 intervals between the neighbor steps – a large second and minor third. The main tone function can be carried by any of the 5 sounds, it creates 5 different variants of P. sound range consisting of the same sound content.

Ethnic music of peoples from the Volga-and Urals regions is mainly based on semitoneless major P. (do-re-mi-sol-la) and its minor (la-do-re-mi-sol) mode. Combination of these variants creates parallel-alternating mode. The range of melody enlarges by means of merging different P. sound range structures or by interval moving of certain units into different range zones.