Bryan Creer wrote: >Now that I've calmed down a bit I'll have another go.
I think you guys are actually arguing from the same side of the fence. Folk tunes are the product of an evolutionary process which involves a whole community of people. They demonstrate an extraordinary degree of musical sophistication - there is no doubt that these people understood modes, how and where to use them and how to take liberties with them for best effect. Likewise, it's equally certain that few if any of them knew their names, or had much else in the way of musical theory on an intellectual level. It matters not at all, since we can see in their work that they knew what they were doing at the deeper level, where tunes are actually created and modified. Of course there has always been crossover between folk <-> ecclesiastical (and art) music, and that's still going on. It works in both ways, and probably to about an equal extent. Open any hymnal and you'll find dozens of examples of hymns set to familiar folk song tunes (often a bit bastardised and "straightened out" to suit their new use) but often with their original names still attached. You can also find examples of recently-collected traditional songs whose melodies closely resemble those used in 10th century Gregorian chant, and who's to say which way the influence went there? When we label a tune as a particular mode we are applying a bit of musical theory to something which exists in nature in exactly the same way that we apply the concept of "gene" to the observation that characteristics get passed on from one generation to another. All such theories are provisional and probably incomplete, but they are also extremely useful, in that they give us a way of understanding and discussing the subject matter. It is possible (although very unlikely) that the concepts of "mode" and "gene" are wrong and will be replaced with different ideas when the subject matter is better understood. It won't make any difference to the music or the reproductive process though. Phil Taylor To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
