Klarinet Archive - Posting 000232.txt from 2004/07

From: <tony-w@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Music theory.
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 11:55:23 -0400

From: Umar Goldeli <umar@-----.com>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 1:59 PM
Subject: [kl] Music theory.

> Well - the question is "Why A, B, C, D, E, F, G"? More specifically - why
is there only a semitone between (B and C) and (E and F)?

As you say, the answer may/does lie in the history. But another question is
'why not?'. The history behind this may be available in Grove`s. I don`t
know the history, so all I can say is that someone thought of it before you
or I. That`s the way it is. There is good reason behind Tony`s Pay`s theory
that the whole tones and semitones came about as they are today, because
these frequencies are 'easy on the ear'. The first 7 letters of the alphabet
could be a translation from their origins in ancient times, when the early
flutes and stringed instruments were in abundance. I`m not sure if it`s
known how the ancient Egyptians, Greeks etc named their notes, but it`s
probably safe to assume that their scales weren`t much different from what
we use today. It`s probably best if you just accept it as being so. There
may be good logic in suggesting that it`s the keyboard that influenced the
origins of ABCDEFG much more than anything else. For wind instruments it`s
not necessary to 'see' the note when it`s played. But on a keyboard, the
design and lay out of keys is such that the visual aspect is very important.
So we have white and black notes. So we have A to G; but more easily
understood, is music based around C up to the C an octave higher. This makes
the technical, and the sight reading aspect much easier, because there are
not as many sharps or flats involved. Your way, A,A# etc would involve
hundreds of #`s for all the scales, and this would make the music impossible
to read. It needs to be simple, uncomplicated, and certainly for the
musician (not necessarily the mathematician), no need of science.
The scale of C is called the open scale because it has no sharps or flats.
And the make up of this westernised major scale requires: tone, tone,
semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. Hence, on the keyboard, we need to be
able to 'see' where these tones and semitones are. This is the reason why
some of the notes on a keyboard are white and some are black. It`s not
necessary to 'see' notes on brass or woodwind, nor quite as much on strings,
so therefore it`s not necessary to have white and black on the trumpet (for
ex). But we need to see where the C scale semitones are on keyboard - EF and
BC.
I would say that it has been developed for the 'layman' to understand. If a
bunch of scientists were to get their hands and *ears* and chain saws on a
keyboard layout, it would look and sound much different than what the
scientist AND musician would come up with.

> So why choose an odd number of letters and make such an exception between
b/c and e/f? Is there a logical reason for it?

Odd? As opposed to even, or strange? As opposed to even, we are given 7
notes, (and one more to make up a complete octave) because this is how the
scale has developed since year 1. As we said earlier, this is an 'easy to
listen to' series of notes. And more than one can be combined to make more
sophisticated sounds.
But it`s not quite so strange either. We like to be an ordered kind of
species, hence the first 7 letters of the alphabet. We can`t use any more,
because most scales (all scales?) demand a repetition of the same series of
notes at a higher or lower pitch to continue from the first 7: A to G-A to
G-A to G etc.

Why did I take up music? I`ll never know - - - -

Tony W.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org