Scales

Scale: C hirajoshi

Description: A family of related Japanese pentatonic tunings originating from shamisen music and adapted for koto, usually represented in Western theory as a five-note, hemitonic minor-coloured scale. Different intervallic realisations exist, but all produce an austere, haunting sound widely borrowed in film, rock and modern classical writing to evoke Japanese timbres.

Notes (pitch classes): C, D, D#, G, G#

Intervals (formula): 1P, 2M, 3m, 5P, 6m