Often, especially in the context of the common practice period, most or all of the melody and harmony of a musical work is built using the notes of a single scale, which can be conveniently represented on a staff with a standard key signature. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale. In music theory, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. The C major scale, ascending and descending