Key of A: A B C Db E F# G# A
Below is the pattern for the Anasazi scale using whole and half steps.
W= whole step, h = half step, m3 = 3 half steps ( or a whole step + a half step ).
W h h m3 W W h
A ^ B ^ C ^ Db ^ E ^ F# ^ G# ^ A
Half steps: half steps on a piano are the distance between any two adjacent keys, white or black.
Whole steps: a whole-step is two half-steps combined. A whole-step above a key on the piano is two keys to its right, while a whole-step below a key on the piano is two keys to its left.
The Anasazi scale originally comes from 7th century flutes that were discovered in Northeastern Arizona, in 1931 by archaeologist Earl Halstead Morris. In the cliff dwellings of the Prayer Rock district of the Navajo Nation, Morris and his team uncovered four ancient flutes dating from 620 to 670 AD. These flutes are the oldest known wooden flutes to be discovered in North America. The cave in which they were found is now referred to as Broken Flute Cave. These flutes were historically made with six holes. This scale has both the major and minor third. This gives us the option of straddling both worlds. In one way it’s a major scale minus the perfect 4th, which leans more toward a major pentatonic as it is missing the 4th scale degree. When you choose to play the flat third, you can play an ascending melodic minor scale minus the perfect 4th. It’s very unusual and flexible in what it can do melodically. It makes sense, as there were no rules of music theory back then, just the Anasazi, tools, wood and a wealth of imagination.
