Ranking All the Scales in Classical Music 

Missed opportunity to call the video : scales on a scale

When you're not a musician but watch anyway because twosetviolin is such a good vibe to watch

“That’s why you can never play in tune” Me: *Laughs in pianist*

i want a whole series called 'lamentable lists' where brett and eddy just rank different things in classical music

For those who want to know what the heck are the fancy scales Twoset was talking about towards the end: Imagine you are sitting at a piano and play a C major scale, all white keys. But instead of starting at C, you start at D or any other note in the scale, but still keeping on the white keys. Congrats you just played Dorian or another one of the modal scales! A way to remember the order is I'm Digesting Pizza, Leave Me A-Lone (Ionic, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian). TL;DR: Modes are a fancy way of playing a piece within a scale, but starting on a note that isn't the usual one.

“Who doesn’t love sight reading in C Major” *Laughs in saxophone*

Brett and Eddy: put D major in S rank Canon in D: so you're approaching me...

When they put DMajor straight to S without any explaination. I felt so cultured for understanding why.

“D Major is a glorious key” Canon in D: Good choice

Me as a piano player: “I love C major” Me as a violin player: “I love D major”

they should ranks intervals like minor 7th, major 2nd, or tritone. that would be fun to see their reasoning behind their ranking.

This was triggering as a pianist. Some of my favorite keys (C# minor, Bb minor, Db Major) were consigned to ignominy.

“C# minor? It sounds like E” Chopin: not in my depression land

No one like c sharp minor Chopin : am i a joke to you?? ):

Fun fact: D is also called "Re", that means "King" in italian. Italians already knew that D is glorious. CHECKMATE

Just say ‘bubble tea’ and you’ll put twoset in a trance

Ah Pentatonic Scale, the scale that every guitarists only need.

Maybe this is true for violinists, but for pianists, the supreme scales are the ones with 3+ flats: E-Flat major, C Minor, A-Flat Major, F Minor, D-Flat Major, B-Flat Minor, G-Flat Major, E-Flat Minor.

E flat major in D tier Chopin's Nocturne in E flat major: Lamentable !

But an F in the chat for all the F’s that were treated unfairly in the making of this video.

In arabic music there is a shit tone of scales. We are talking like, hundreds, if not thousands, and most of them were forgotten and left behind in history and today there is only around a 100 which is still impressive.

Non musician and 0 musical theory knowledge fan like me: Couldn’t understand and still happily watching🌚

“This just came back in stock.” Dude it’s out of stock now

Eddy: “yeah, I’m not a big fan of chromatic” Mozart: *sadness noises*

1:18 yes. thankyou, Eddy.

“Imagine writing something in locrian” I literally just finished a piece entirely in locrian

5:41 “Next up on Mixelodeon, Spongebob Squarepants!” (it’s mix-o-lydian fyi for ppl who didn’t know)

What do you call the boy who had a piano fall on his head? Ab minor... Also Dead.

3:58 Editor san just makes things 3 times funnier

- Me, a beginner musician, barely knowing the difference between major and minor scales - Twoset nerding out about Locrian or Dorian Yeah, I totally agree!

"But who doesn't like sightreading C Major?" Brass players: >:(

2setviolin: i don’t think anyone likes f French horn players:🖕

Me: tries to watch a CuLTurEd video RU-vid: here's a SaCrELiGiOuS ad

Love you TwoSet

This would be nice if I could even play a scale in tune :(

These are just off the top of my head, and you'll know immediately that I don't have much classical background. So: Dorian: Santana. Phrygian: Iron Maiden. Lydian: Frank Zappa. Mixolydian: every blues guy ever, and a lot of country too. Ionian: Meh. Locrian: Chanting weirdos in horror movies featuring devil children. D Major always struck me as the key the violin most actively wants to play in. B minor, not so much, although guitar seems to like that one OK. E Major: guitar heaven. C# minor, not so much. F#/Gb Major and D#/Eb minor: sadists. And, by extension, masochists. Db Major/Bb Minor: old-school Baptist hymns. Seriously, those guys had an absolute fetish for the black keys on the piano and organ. They were pretty keen on Ab Major/F Minor too. B Major: old bluegrass guys, probably just to be [DELETED]s. G Major/E minor: lazy bluegrass guys. A Major: maybe even better than E Major for guitar, and solidly in the violin's comfort zone too. F# Minor, on the other hand and for some completely irrational reason, makes me want to run off in search of a place where F# Minor isn't. A Minor: More fun than its relative Major (C), about which the first word that occurs to me is "inoffensive". F Major: I like it, for reasons that are hard to pin down. I like D Minor even more. Rookie guitar guys, on the other hand, absolutely loathe F Major, with pretty much any key containing an F Major chord being a close runner-up. Eb Major/C Minor: Love 'em, maybe because these keys, more than any other, make me want to practice shifting into multiple positions. Don't ask what synapse firing sequence produces _that_ reaction; I don't know.

3:56 "bb, tea.. bubble tea" "aaaaah" Editor san: y u do this 2 urself

"I quite like A minor" yes this violinist over here officer

Don’t lie, a lot of us love the C Major Scale. It doesn’t have any black keys.

How cold is the room? Brett is in Hawaii and Eddy is fall in the US.

My judgement: Any more than 4-5 flats or sharps, I'm not doing.

twoset: puts D major on S tier Canon in D: *Allow me to introduce myself*

A minor in a higher tier than A Major is Lamentable

"whole tone...very hazy...dreamy" loved that description, can you describe and give examples of the other scales, please?

Me trying to keep up and imagining what each scale sounds like in my head

4:20 (oooh) My computer literally decided to turn off right after this moment XD

I once used a harmonic phrygian dominant scale without even realizing it.

I’m so early lingling didn’t even wake up for the practice

I don't know why, but I love F major. It has such a relaxing sound. I would go as far as to rank it S tier

Me: Depressed af 2set: *uploads Me:🥳🤩

This is very interesting. As a trumpet player, everything with sharps is C or B max, but I'll gladly take on 4 flats. And ugh E flat major is the love of my life

"That's called a scale" WHY DID I LAUGH

surprised they didn't mention the harmonic minor scale

"whole tone means everything's a tone" okay pals buckle up for a wild ride on the ~whole tone scale~ A whole tone scale is comprised of ONLY whole-tone intervals! What does that mean? Think about each individual note (ex: C, C#, D, etc. - also called semitones, or half-steps) being like steps on a staircase. To go up a semi-tone means to go up one stair (eg. C -> C#). If you were to do this all the way from A -> G#, you would hit every available pitch in Western music (some cultures divide pitches even further!), and subsequently play a Chromatic scale. A whole-tone scale is like double-stepping the staircase. Instead of going up by semi-tones, you go up by two semi-tones, or a whole-tone. This results in the wildest sounding shit in the universe. In major scales, there are 8 available notes, going up the staircase in the following pattern: whole-tone, whole-tone, semi-tone, whole-tone, whole-tone, whole-tone, semi-tone. This pattern is called the Ionian Mode - and there a bunch of different patterns that correspond to the modes mentioned in the video. The seventh note (or subtonic, for you hyper intellectuals) is called the Leading Tone. I capitalize, because the Leading Tone is the note that holds the most tension - if you were to stop on the 7th note of the scale, you would really want to play the 8th note (or, resolve the scale back to "home" - the first note). This is because not only is the 8th note the "home note" or tonal center, but the distance from the 7th note to the 8th note is only a semi-tone - meaning you're so incredibly close to home that stopping on the 7th creates a ton of manic energy. The whole-tone scale, on the other hand, only has 7 notes. It also doesn't have a leading tone because everything is a whole-tone apart - which is why is sounds so balanced and "hazy", as Eddy put it. No one note creates distinctively more tension than the rest. Debussy uses whole-tone scales frequently for this effect, which is why some people call his music "impressionistic". Hope that helps clear up the whole scale, my personal fav

Twoset: **Plays a Tritone Daniel Thasher: BoY YOu cOuLd HaVe SuMmoNed a FReaKiNG DeMon!!!

6:33 I like how the triangle and the violin are both playing the note B

As a pianist, my favorite key is C# major, everybody asks why, but I just think it sounds ethereal, like E Dorian

0:20 KILLED ME (The way he says it!!! the facial expression!!! the clip art!!!)

They missed so many good scales. Where’s my Phrygian Dominant? Or my super Locrian. Also what happened to melodic minor that’s a pretty normal scale lol.

Twoset: c# minor... d tier. Chopin: HOW DARE YOU

My choir teacher just played one of your videos and I have the biggest smile on my face! Love your work :)

Music class: F# major is hard!! Me: *laughs in E# minor*

Do "Ranking All intervals in classical music" !

Count Waldstein: “I think C major is a bit vanilla” Ludwig van Beethoven: “Fasten your seat belt and hold my beer”.

"Higher minds will agree microtonal scales are above all else." -Me, who can't play in tune.

I would love to see these guy's thoughts/feelings on the modes of scales other than Ionian, like the modes of Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, and Harmonic Major. Phrygian Dominant and Mixolydian b6 are some of the coolest sounding tonalities out there. Also, the Octatonic Scale is mind bendingly cool.

5:08 The Dorian scale was giving me Celtic music style vibes I kinda liked it

4:11 "It's so awkward even just playing that (B Minor)". In that sense even D Major would be awkward to play, as it's the exact same key 😂

I like how everyone’s saying “hi” so they can, if it’s possible, be first.

Nobody:- Me a non-musician:- Wtf is going on here.

F minor is amazing if you played Beethoven's absolutely sick 1st piano sonata, or the even better Appassionata.

5:40 YOU PRONOUNCED MIXOLYDIAN WRONG! That's sacrilegious! Mixolydian is favorite mode!

05:22 Eddy plays the B A S S L I N E from Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Can't Stop"

Interesting that the most important Japanese scales for traditional flutes like the shakuhachi are (as I know them, in no way I claim to be an expert) are all somewhere at the top. Also interesting that my favourite flutes (self made) are also right there. Although I must say I rather order them by season. G Major is pretty much Spring to my ears, whereas D Major stands for the warm riches of summer, with an Indian summer in E Major. D Minor goes to autumn. Winter is a tricky one. I don’t actually have one that stands out for winter. E Major I find somewhat boring most of the time, pleasant to the ears but without character, like C major.

2 set violin: F Minor E tier Amazing Ballade 4: Am I a joke to you

I was not prepared for how heated I was gonna get over these choices

*all flat keys in C or lower* The concert band musicians have left the chat

D Major is a painful scale -a bassoon player

Db major is easily the most beautiful key signature for piano

Nobody: Nobody at all: Me, a jazz musician: Why pick favorites, just love them all

This is the most musical nerdy thing I have ever watched.

5:21 Davie 504 fans be like : *heavy breathing*

When you like before watching the video because you're actually here for once.

This is really what I needed. Thank You!!!

When you don't know what scales are or any music theory but you watch the full video anyway...

"Everyone likes D major!" *cries in brass*

When they searched "ionian mode" on google. -Rick Beato has entered the chat

"why are you watching these guys do you know them" No they're hilarious "... they're dorks. So you know them?"

Twoset: is making a ton of shorter videos every day Me: GO THRU RU-vid COMMENTS AND IF YOU FIND A TWOSET REFERENCE THE VIDEO ENDS

I'm earlier here than in my online classes.

Check out John Kirkpatrick’s Dust to Dust. It’s a song entirely in B Locrian. It avoids the G note causing no feeling of resolution to C Ionian.

TwoSet, "Everybody loves D major." Puts both D major and D minor in S tier. Yes Eddy, yes Brett we get it. You both love the D. 😉 😂 PS: I would have swapped the positions of A major and A minor but that's just my personal thing.

Two set violin just put DM on S Canon in D: They like Canon in D after all

Tchaikovsky's serenade for strings is in C Major and it's so epic. I will never forgive you for ranking it F!

My first violin is coming tomorrow and watching this made me go woops. I can't wait to learn and especially practice 40hrs a day ;-;

Twoset: Let’s put it in this tier. Me:agreed

When u realize that all the scales you have been taught when you start violin are all a and s tier ;) Thanks teacher! Ps: prob should have practiced them /lol

It is impressive how you put my favourite scales at the bottom and the worst at the top. That just has to show haw music touches people differently.

Oml I’m finally here before two set has 1k like on a video- The video has now ended- ( for me anyways)

*JUST TO CLARIFY FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE COMMENTS TALKING ABOUT THEIR PREFERENCES OF NATURAL KEYS BASED ON SOUND;* different keys having different feelings and emotions is not true at all. Humans perceive music through the relative distances between the notes, not the actual pitch in which the air is vibrating. The reason some of these classical composers favored a key over the other (aside from the mechanical situation of the instrument), is because the tuning was different back then, and not equally tempered like today. Back then, a whole step interval from one key, compared to a whole step interval of another key, was slightly off, unlike today. That's why these composers had some sort of emotional appeal and attachment to a certain key, because back then they actually did sound different. But that is not applicable at all in today's tuning method, 12-TET, or 12-tone equal temperament. Meaning that the ratio of the distance between two notes transposed to a different key using the same interval will remain the same. Check out Adam Neely's video on "Which key is the saddest". That should clear up all these musical placeboes.