{{for|scales containing tritones|Anhemitonic scale}} thumb|Example tritonic scale.<ref>Bruno Nettl and Helen Myers (1976). ''Folk Music in the United States: An Introduction'', third edition (Wayne Books WB41) Detroit: Wayne State University Press, p.&nbsp;40. {{ISBN|9780814315569}} (cloth); {{ISBN|9780814315576}} (pbk).</ref> {{audio|Tritonic scale on E.mid|Play}}

A '''tritonic scale''' is a musical scale or mode with three notes per octave. This is in contrast to a heptatonic (seven-note) scale such as the major scale and minor scale, or a dodecatonic (chromatic 12-note) scale, both common in modern Western music. Tritonic scales are not common in modern art music{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}, and are generally associated with indigenous and prehistoric music.<ref name="Sinha1991">Onkar Prasad, "[https://books.google.com/books?id=_qQwmFjoQRIC&pg=PA131 Tribal Music: Its Proper Context]", in ''Tribal Thought and Culture: Essays in Honour of Surajit Chandra Sinha'', edited by Baidyanath Saraswati, 131–49 (New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, 1991): 131 (accessed 18 January 2020) {{ISBN|978-81-7022-340-5}}</ref>

==Distribution==

===India=== Early Indian Rig Vedic hymns were tri-tonic, sung in three pitches with no octave: Udatta, Anudatta, and Swarita.

===Maori=== In a 1969 study, Mervyn McLean noted that tritonic scales were the most common among the Maori tribes he surveyed, comprising 47% of the scales used.<ref name="McLean1996">{{cite book|author=Mervyn McLean|title=Māori Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKnQRp_EafcC&pg=PA239|accessdate=24 June 2012|year=1996|publisher=Auckland University Press|isbn=978-1-86940-144-3|pages=239–}}</ref>

===South America=== The pre-Hispanic ''herranza'' ritual music of the Andes is generally tritonic, based on a major triad, and played on the ''waqra phuku'' trumpet, violin, and singer with a ''tinya'' drum. The tritonic scale is largely limited to this ritual and to some southern Peruvian Carnival music.<ref name="Romero2001">{{cite book|author=Raúl R. Romero|title=Debating the Past: Music, Memory, and Identity in the Andes|url=https://archive.org/details/debatingpastmusi00rome_0|url-access=registration|accessdate=24 June 2012|date=19 July 2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-513881-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/debatingpastmusi00rome_0/page/42 42]–}}</ref> ==See also== *One-third octave *Tritone

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Music-theory-stub}} {{Scales}}

Category:Musical scales Category:Tritonic musical scales