The argument for the central position of tonic and mode would be far more
convincing if it actually worked and produced the results you want.
John Henckel says -
> The K: should force people
> to identify the tonic. K:G or K:Em is much better than K:^f.
You might be able to force people to identify the tonic but you can't force
them to get it right. Is K:G really better than K:^f if the tune is really
in E minor of A dorian? One who chose to identify himself with WE (who like
it the way it is) said that in writing my Noteworthy to abc converter I
should do just that. It is what Muse used to do. I don't want to. I would
rather put out less information than incorrect and misleading information.
What you have to remember is that a lot of users aren't particularly
interested in the abc notation as such; it is a means to an end. Frank
Nordberg says - "ABC is not music notation, it's source code for music
notation." I don't entirely agree with him but it is certainly a (if not
the) major use. The various attempts at Morrison's Jig that I found in John
Chambers' tune finder a couple of months ago illustrate the point. The keys
suggested were Edor, Em (with c# accidentals), G (with c# accidentals), D and
Bm (I particularly like the Bm. They tried, bless 'em.) All of these
achieved what the user wanted in terms of producing music notation and gave
the crucial piece of information that every musician needs - What notes do I
use? John Chambers says - "a lot of people (some of them very capable
musicians) don't understand
the difference between K:F and K:Dm." I don't think that's actually the
point. As long as they get the end result they want, they are not
particularly worried about what the abc looks like.
Making a sharps/flats form of the K: command available would actually improve
the situation for those who want to be able to use tonic and mode for
searches by decreasing the amount of misinformation. If nothing else, you
could simply ignore the tunes that didn't contain tonic/mode information.
I would like to say how refreshing I found Phil Taylor's account of his
musical background compared with his usual dictatorial approach. I too, had
a poor musical education when young and came to music through folk clubs and
struggling to learn melodic instruments (English concertina and fiddle). For
me, the most important thing to know in advance is the notes to use. The
tonic centre and mode arise from hearing and playing the tune (and
traditional music is, principally, melodic.)
One final point I have to make. I am worried by phrases like "if we permit"
and "should force people" and comparisons with speeding laws (For goodness
sake! Nobody's going to die here.) Are WE (who like it the way it is)
becoming WE (who must be obeyed)? Couldn't we borrow a few words from modern
business speak like enable, provide, facilitate?
Bryan
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