The pentatonic scale, known to predate Pythagoras the Ionian Greek philosopher - born around 560 BC., is a musical pattern with five notes per octave - developed independently by many ancient civilizations that is still used in various musical genres today. The old creation of the flute fashioned from birds' bones is believed to be among the first instruments that employed it. A diversity of pentatonic scales appear in the ancient music-making of First Nation - Native Americans, sub-Saharan Africans, East and Southeast Asians, and in a good number of European folk melodies.
