Phil Taylor wrote - >I think you guys are actually arguing from the same side of the fence.
Thanks Phil we needed that and thank you for a posting which I was largely able to agree with. After being reprimanded by a Scotsman for something I hadn't said about English farmworkers I did rather lose the plot for a while. I was beginning to wonder why Jack was trying to prove me wrong by telling me things I agreed with. I will not get drawn any further into whether traditional singers thought in terms of modes before the folklorists "discovered" them. It is far too big a subject and, I realise, now that I've calmed down even more, totally irelevant to the point I was making. The actual question was "Did they use the terminology of the Rennaisance modes in the practice or notation of their music?" As far as I am aware they did not. One of the major uses of abc is to preserve and distribute music from old manuscripts (see the Village Music Project). Using the tonic/mode system misrepresents those collections and misleads the user. Bryan Creer To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
