The scale in which eight pitches are made to fit into the octave by alternating whole steps and half steps is the ________ scale.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The scale in which eight pitches are made to fit into the octave by alternating whole steps and half steps is called the octatonic scale. It is used frequently in 20th-century classical music and jazz, and it provides a rich and complex harmonic palette. The other options, pentatonic, whole-tone, and quarter-tone scales, all utilize different spacings between pitches and do not alternate between whole and half steps in the same way as the octatonic scale.

The Scale in Which Eight Pitches Are Made to Fit