> Your first paragraph, "you cannot have two tonics" Why not? The word
> tonic is just a word to describe the note which is the focus of a tune
> or a portion of a tune. If a tune has two focus points it has two tonics
> or is "double tonic"
As I said before, you can call it that for convenience sake, but that is not
how it evolved, nor is it acurate.
> Your fourth paragraph, Keys and modes, Perhaps I don't understand this.
> The way I see it these are two separate things, the key being the
> focus of a piece of music, usually where the tune starts and ends, and a
> mode is a given pattern of notes [usually 8] selected from a group of
> 12. Can't you focus any mode on any note and can't you change both the
> mode and the key in a tune and presto! you've a "double tonic" or
> "double key" tune which as I understand it is the legacy passed to us
> by the pipes when, for example, a tune is partly in G locritian and
> partly in A mixolydian or A mixolydian and B aeolian.
Again, you can call it what you like, but that is not how it developed. If a
tune is partly in Lochrian (check spelling) and partly in Mixolydian, it is
in one mode then another. Modes shift all the time. The scale remains the
same. The key is something else all together. Notes and chords are given the
designation 'Tonic' or 'Dominant' to signify the _relationship_ between
one another. Two Tonics is impossible. It is possible to change the tonic
during a piece, but that is a different thing again.
>
> Your fifth paragraph
>
> The C note on the highland pipes is ambiguous. Is it C or C sharpe. The
> designation of its scales obviously depend on which it is.
It is a B Demented.
Rob
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