Re: More questions on scales

While this topic is alive, let me ask a related question that has been
bugging me for years.

Why is the tonic of the "all white notes" major scale "C" and not "A"?
As far as I understand it, the diatonic scale derives (probably both)
from the logic of harmonics, and the circle of fifths, so that pattern
is fairly basic to our Western music. So, given that it exists, and it
has a tonic, why didn't we label the scale ABCDEFG(A), with C-D and G-A
being the semitones?  How did a minor scale come to be ABCDEFG?  (A minor
third desn't fit into the circle of fifths, does it?)

Another thing that offends my sense of rightness (:-) is that to get the
scale from fifths, you have to start on the subdominant.  I realize that
this is how the math works, to get those 'low ratios', but naively it's
odd.  I suppose it's logical that the tonic should be the one that
shares the two fifths, though.

					-- Pete --

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