History
Modern music theory makes use of the octave as the basic unit for determining tuning: ancient Greeks used the tetrachord for this purpose. The octave was recognised by ancient Greek theorists as a fundamental interval, but it was seen as being built from two tetrachords and a whole tone.
Scales built on chromatic and enharmonic tetrachords continued to be used in the classical music of the Middle East and India, but in Europe they were maintained only in certain types of folk music. The diatonic tetrachord, however, and particularly the shade built around two tones and a semitone, became the dominant tuning in European music.
Read more about this topic: Tetrachord
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