Heptatonic scale are considered subsets of a twelve-pitch scale roughly analogous to the Western chromatic scale. The first and fifth melakarta tones, corresponding to the first and eighth chromatic tones, are invariable in inflection, and the fourth melakarta tone, corresponding to the sixth or seventh chromatic tone, is allowed one of two inflections only, a natural ("shuddah") position and a raised ("tivra") position. The second and third melakarta tones can be picked from the 4 chromatic tones (second through fifth), and similarly for the sixth and seventh. Thus the number of possible forms is equal to twice the square of the number
Heptatonic scale Heptatonic scale A heptatonic scale is a musical scale that has seven pitches per octave. Examples include the "major scale" or "minor scale"; e.g., in C major: C D E F G A B C—and in the relative minor, A minor, natural minor: A B C D E F G A; the "melodic minor scale", A B C D E FGA ascending, A G F E D C B A descending; the "harmonic minor scale", A B C D E F GA; and a scale variously known as the "Byzantine", and "Hungarian", scale, C D E F G A B