On Feb 4, 2005, at 9:39 PM, Richard Yates wrote:
This whole field of research has always seemed hopelessly mired in a priori assumptions and inadequate study design. I consider the people who claim "scientific" basis for tonality to be the phrenologists of modern musical scholarship.
And don't get me started on the bloody prehistoric flute hoax. DavidFenton
...or, for me, the derivation of the Western major scale from upper partials
in the overtone series, e.g. "Subtonic Partials - The seventh and fourteenth
partials are the out-of-tune
subtonic degrees found in the third octave (7th partial) and fourth octave
(14th partial) of a given series. It may help to think of the seventh
partial as a simple interval to remember its scale degree although it is
actually a minor 21st from the fundamental."
Richard Yates
We were through this last year, I remember. One theory, which I rather like, holds that the 4th and 7th degrees of the major scale are ALTERED versions of those notes from the harmonic series, which is why they have so much tension on them in major keys. The major pentatonic scale, which is one very common scale around the world, avoids the 4th and 7th degrees altogether.
The same theory supposes that a minor triad is heard as an ALTERED major triad. The basis is still the harmonic series, but it isn't a law.
The scale as derived from the harmonic series is not universal (Arabic, South Asian, and Indonesian scales come to mind as exceptions), but then it doesn't have to be. It only has to be more common than random selection in order to be interesting as a theory.
Christopher
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