pentatonic scale

A five-note scale found throughout African and African American folk music. Price frequently uses pentatonic melodic material in her piano works to evoke the character of spirituals and folk songs while embedding them in sophisticated harmonic progressions.

Pentatonic melodies in Price's music often sit over chromatic harmonic progressions — the tension between the simplicity of the melody and the complexity of the harmony is deliberate and expressive. Let the melody remain pure and folk-like even when the harmony beneath it is sophisticated.