About the Middle Eastern Scale#
Western theory calls this pattern the Phrygian dominant scale, and it is close kin to the maqam Hijaz heard in Arabic and Turkish music. What gives it away is the gap in the middle of the climb, a step of a tone and a half that the ordinary major and minor scales never take.
The run here starts on E and goes up as far as high C before turning around, eleven notes in a single line. G# is the only sharp, and it is the note to watch: it sits right after that wide gap, so your ear has to know where it is going. Nothing in the scale needs a sub-hole or a thumb hole on the 12-hole ocarina, which leaves you free to listen. Play it slowly and let the strange step sink in.
Middle Eastern Scale Ocarina Tab#
| E | F | G# | A | B | C | B | A | G# | F | E |