On 1 Nov 2007 at 0:19, John Howell wrote: > "gamut" This term comes from the note added to the Greek scale, "Gamma Ut", which was below the A. That is, the Greek scale was a tetrachordal system starting on A. The G below was added later, and called Gamma Ut. I don't know how that got collapsed into "gamut" but that's the explanation I was given. This all predates Guido, of course. This all goes back to Boethius and his discourse on the monochord.
> Which leaves the matter of B and H (or more properly b and h). Round b and square b existed in music long before Guido. The so- called "flat" sign was really a b with rounded circle, while the "natural" sign was square b, with squared "circle". That's all I had to say on your otherwise excellent summary (i.e., no corrections, just additions). Perhaps my main point is that a lot of what Guido systematized came from practice that had already been in place almost as long as any music notation had existed. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
