THE CHINESE MUSICAL NOTES
From all the pitches Traditional Chinese musicians produced, five main sounds or notes have been stablished and are used nowadays.
Their names are: Gōng, Shāng, Jué, Zhí, and Yǔ .
If we were to put them in western notes they would have this interval relation between them:
Probably you have already realized how these notes make a major pentatonic scale with degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. Gōng (1) is the first note and after we have Shāng (2) one step up, Jué (3) another step up, Zhí (5) one step and a half up and finally Yǔ (6) one step up followed by Gōng a step and a half higher completing the octave.
This relation of notes can be used starting from different notes thus giving us different keys.
Major pentatonic scale from D:
Major pentatonic scale from G:
In the last two examples the interval relation of the notes is the same. We also use the same Chinese names for the notes. This is known in western European music as "movable C" system. Every time we have this note relation even if it starts from a different root (first note) the notes will have the same name.
THE CHINESE MUSIC MODES
Now if we take this scale and preserving the interval relation between its pitches we start from different notes we will obtain four other different scales or modes. This will give us a total of five modes available. If the reader have studied the Greek modes in western music, he/she will find a similar approach in obtaining the Chinese modes or scales. But be aware because although the contruction is similar the use will be different.
These five Chinese modes will be named after the starting note.
This article comes from the book “Learn Traditional Chinese Music for Guitar by Fernando Perez”.