What is the freygish scale?
פֿרייגישYiddish
(פֿרייגיש) — also called Ahava Rabbah (אהבה רבה) or, in Western terms, Phrygian dominant — is a seven-note scale with a flattened second and a major third, leaving an between them: 1, ♭2, 3, 4, 5, ♭6, ♭7. It is the signature sound of klezmer (כּלי־זמר) and Ashkenazi prayer, and the same scale colours flamenco, Balkan, and Middle Eastern music.
The Yiddish name freygish is a borrowing of 'Phrygian'; the Hebrew name Ahava Rabbah comes from the prayer whose chant uses the . Klezmer inherited it from the synagogue and shared it with its Ottoman, Romanian, and Greek neighbours — the augmented second between its second and third is the most ears hear as 'the Jewish scale,' though the same pitches serve flamenco and the Arabic maqam Hijaz.
Quick reference
- Formula
- 1 – ♭2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – ♭7
- In E
- E – F – G♯ – A – B – C – D
Related
A playable keyboard that lights up these notes — and an A/B comparison with related scales — is being built, so you can hear the scale, not just read its formula.