Melodically speaking, my worth's never none;
Proportionally speaking, I'm a downer if under one;
I'm wont to overlap;
Or get up in a snap;
But when I am used, I hope it's not for a ton.
What am I?
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Scale
Melodically speaking, my worth's never none;
A musical scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. Practising scales is a fundamental part of learning a musical instrument and is never worthless.
Proportionally speaking, I'm a downer if under one;
A scale is a representation in proportional dimensions of one object to another usually represented as a ratio or fraction. If this ratio or fraction is smaller than one, we are looking at a downsized version of the original object.
I'm wont to overlap;
Scales are plates protecting the skin of fish and reptiles which tend to overlap.
Or get up in a snap;
Scale also means to climb
But when I am used, I hope it's not for a ton.
A scale is an instrument for weighing. Usually this is for small amounts so most scales would not cope well with a ton of weight.
times
Melodically speaking, my worth's never none;
the "time" in music is a description of number of notes per stanza, and never zero
Proportionally speaking, I'm a downer if under one;
in the positive numbers, any number "times" a number below 1 is reduced.
I'm wont to overlap;
times of events often overlap
Or get up in a snap;
Times up!
But when I am used, I hope it's not for a ton.
It's happened "a ton of times" - grammar we might prefer not to see.