Scale Degree Explorer

By pressing keys on your computer keyboard or moving your mouse to click on them, you can actualy experience how each note in the scale feels as it hangs, leans and settles into place within the key. Tonic is shown here resting peacefuly at the bottom. The other scale degrees is mapped out on a curving vertical ladder that represents tonal gravity, with the less stable notes at the top.

Touching any of the capsules at each degree will pick out that note from the ladder. Alternatively, by sliding (or dragging) your mouse over the ladder, you can draw the golden probe from degree to degree and it will update as you go. Keyboard players can just hit the relevant number key from one to seven to pluck out a degree of the scale. The arrows up and down move along the ladder when a degree is selected and the Space or Enter key sounds it.

How to Use This Tool

Selectors for scale form and tonal center are located at the top of control panel. With the tonal center dropdown, select any key from C to B. The scale form changes between major, natural minor, harmonic minor, and ascending melodic minor. These change all of the labels, chord quality, and tendency lines according to your selection. Harmonic minor lowers the sixth and raises the seventh degree whereas the melodic minor does both on the rise.

The gravity route selector sits next to the scale controls and will determine where your notes go when you activate the drop. Direct tonic landing forces each note directly to root. The natural tendency chain follows standard voice leading. The stepwise descent walks down scale-wise to the tonic. The dominant ledge routes resolution via the fifth degree. Pick a route that suits the melodic habit you wish to practice.

This is the rate at which those resolution phrases will fall out. Slow them down by sliding the fall rate slider to the left. Speed the phrases up by sliding it to the right, and be sure to listen carefuly. Use the master level slider to adjust the overall volume to whatever feels comfortable while you explore, anywhere you go.

You’ll find both of these onscreen and next to their track for easy referencing. On the left is the gravity ladder (clicking on the degree lights it up) and on the right is the inspector panel. When you click on a degree, it’s highlighted. The inspector fills with information about that degree, including its function, interval, solfège syllable, and names. It also describes how that degree tend to resolve. It also shows the diatonic triad and seventh chord built from that degree. As soon as you change your selection to another note, this all changes in real time, providing instant theory context to what you are hearing.

Four buttons on a sound deck appear just below the readout. These allow you to open up the triad. You can drop the bass note, add the seventh chord color, or isolate the tone. This lets you hear the melody over its supporting harmony, but each time using the same root note.

You can toggle the functional regions of the map to show where the tonic, dominant, and predominant areas are labeled. You can also follow the tendency pulls to visualize lines from degree to resolution. To do this on the pin deck, you can listen to two pins side by side. Click A and then B to play through in order, or pin any combination as an ‘A’ or a ‘B’, then play each to hear the difference.

Below that is a comparison section where you can see which notes from one pin are in common with the other, what semitones they’re apart by, and how many scale steps away from each other. For example, you might want to hear if something is a subtonic fall versus a leading tone pull. Or maybe you want to know the quality of the chords in relation to one another even if they are in the same key.

A few steps lower is the degree trail where you can construct a melody a step at a time. To select the next note in the chain, click on thread degree and choose an option to add it to the trail. If you want to retrace your steps to change something earlier, click back a degree and change it. Otherwise, you can finish the trail by clicking tonic to end the composition. When you are happy with the trail click sound weave degree trail to hear what you’ve created played back at whatever rate of falling you chose.

At the bottom is the lab deck which includes a drone option as well as pre-set studies. Set the drone to hold the tonic field. This maintains a drone on the root underneath whatever you are exploring. Select from a range of gravity studies, such as cadential two-five-one or leading-tone landing. With a single push, it’s ready to go. You can even choose which type of drone to use. You can select just the tonic, the tonic with the fifth, or a full tonic triad drone.

The release gravity drop button engages a resolution phrase from the current degree. This then allows the probe to follow your chosen route and play each note until it reaches the tonic. If you change your mind halfway through a phrase, click catch falling phrase to stop the motion cleanly.

At the top of the screen you can see what’s going on such as if there’s a drop in progress or if a study is loaded. The Fullscreen button maximizes the widget to fill your screen, providing more space to view the inspector details and tendency lines. To play, toggle the help panel on or off to see a quick list of keyboard shortcuts and all controls. Press Escape to reset the audio engine and stop sounding motion anytime.

One simple exercise is practicing a major leading tone drop. Take the seventh degree and hold it over the home chord, resolving to the root. Then move to natural minor and contrast the less strong pull of the subtonic. Try making another comparison using the pin deck on the sixth degrees in both keys. This allows you to feel how the tendency shifts from one chord quality to another. Have fun experimenting with different ways of moving notes that alter your voice leading habits.

For the explorer, learning by doing is at its core. There’s no manual required to begin playing music on it. Click on a note, hear what happens, move the controls around and go deeper. The widget responds to your curiosity whether you’re having fun listening to the sound or exploring some theory. Begin plucking out degrees, let gravity take over.