Ricardo -> RE: Why do we have sharp and flat notes? (Mar. 3 2008 4:56:29)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: guitarbuddha Hi Ricardo. I think that the seven notes are easily explained ( though easy may not be accurate) by the fact that the three major triads which are easily constructed from the harmonic series (I IV and V) generate seven tones. So in C , CEG,FAC,GBD. Also notice the prominance of the two most important tones of the diatonic system, C and G. All strong (primitive) three chord combinations seem to generate seven notes and they seem to get their strength through being easily generated from the harmonic series. Good idea, and based on 12 tone tuning system I would tend to agree. But there is flaw with your "I,IV,V" idea. That is, well, you can still get a 7 note scale out of some other 3 chords/triads in the chord scale. I, ii, iii, for example. But also, very important, those "chords" by themselves sound OK in equal temp tunings, but in some modal systems you dont' have those chords as separate entities. You would just have a drone and some intervals above, basically the scale makes ONE fundamental, sweetly tuned 13th chord. But again you have 7 notes to name a mode, like the Greeks. 7 notes, but no chord "progressions" like I,IV,V. (I know the Greek tetra chords imply 8 notes, but one of the notes is an "octave" as we westerns think of it). The thing about V-I in tonal music is you get to modulate, but still the whole thing comes AFTER the concept of a 7 note scale that the chords get derived FROM, not vice versa. Trying to build chords from the overtone series, I mean the literal pitches, not the equal temp approximations, you get some ugly sounding relations. BUT when heard over a drone, they all sound like the "same" 13th chord, sweet and beautifully tuned. 12 tone music was a nice intellectual game, but really since you no longer deal with the V-I, that music sort of defeats the purpose of the whole equal temp system (finding a pleasing or acceptable tuning that allowed for modulation, from one "mode" or key to another, without having to retune). They could just as easily invent a new tuning system, and indeed some nerds have done just that with their modern atonal music. Honestly I can stomach some atonal stuff, so long as it has rhythm. Opposite to atonal music, hearing an Indian drone and ONE scale improv for 30 minutes, really can bore people. Again my idea why the prejudice for 7 notes, vs 6,8,9 etc, incorporates both modal concepts AND tonal, and even partially explains the ambiguity for "atonal" music and scales. My idea deals with the tritone's relationship to a key, mode, scale, etc. I could go on for you but I think the point about "why # and b's" has been made clear already. Ricardo
|
|
|
|