Yo scale

{{Short description|Scale used in Japanese music}}

The yo scale is a pentatonic scale used in much Japanese music including gagaku and shomyo.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080313144427/http://www.uwgb.edu/ogradyt/world/japan.htm Japanese Music, Cross-Cultural Communication: World Music, University of Wisconsin – Green Bay]. It is similar to the Dorian, but does not contain minor notes. The yo scale is used specifically in folk songs and early popular songs and is contrasted with the in scale which does contain minor notes.Titon, Jeff Todd (1996). Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples, p.372. {{ISBN|0-02-872612-X}}. The in scale is described as more 'dark' while the yo scale is described as 'bright' sounding.Chris Hiscock, Marian Metcalfe (1999). New Music Matters 11-14, p.49. {{ISBN|978-0-435-81091-7}}.

It is defined by ascending intervals{{clarification needed|date=June 2017}} of two, three, two, two, and three semitones. An example yo scale, expressed in western pitch names, is: D - E - G - A - B. This is illustrated below.

The Ryūkyū scale appears to be derived from the yo scale with pitches raised.

File:D Yo scale.png

File:Yo scale on D ascending & descending.png

More recent theory{{nihongo|Koizumi, Fumio|小泉文夫|Koizumi Fumio}} (1974). {{nihongo|Nihon no Ongaku: Rekishi to Riron|日本の音楽：歴史と理論}} (Japanese Music: History and Theory), 76. Tokyo: National Theater of Japan. emphasizes that it is more useful in interpreting Japanese melody to view scales on the basis of "nuclear tones" located a fourth apart and containing notes between them, as in the min'yō scale used in folk music, and whose pitches are equivalent to the second mode of the yo scale:Titon (1996), 373.

In India's Carnatic music, this scale corresponds to Udayaravichandrika.

File:Min'yō scale.png