The diatonic scale is a seven-step scale in which the two semitones are placed as symmetrically as possible (separated by groups of two and three tones). All the white keys of the piano from C to C form a diatonic scale — the natural major.
By shifting the “starting point,” the same seven notes yield different modes: major (Ionian), natural minor (Aeolian), and also Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, and Locrian. The diatonic scale reigned in European music for millennia and underlies folk melody — including Ukrainian song, where diatonic modes give melodies their naturalness and singing quality. The opposite of the diatonic is the chromatic, which uses all twelve semitones.
