What is it that makes the pitch similar in both Celtic and Arabic music, and why is this pitch unusual in other western music?
In: Culture
Just to make it explicit since the top answers haven’t yet done so: “pitch” most commonly refers to the frequency of a note, i.e. 440Hz A. The pitch of a song then refers to the fundamental note of the scale used by the song, i.e. C major (the pitch is C and the scale is the major scale)
What you probably meant to ask about is “scale”, which refers to the relative distance between the notes. I’m not sure this applies to Celtic music, but certain Western scales have notes very close together in positions that are similar to Arabic scales, which can give the temporary impression that you are listening to Arabic music. Arabic scales, as others have explained, have a lot more notes in an Octave and therefore those notes are closer together.
(Note when I talk about distance and “close together” I’m referring to pitch).
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