Re: More questions on scales

"Pete" <neverland@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:fq2g1n$gjp$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 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"?

The question is better inverted:  why do you consider the major scale to
be 
the im****tant one in this regard?    In plainsong the "1st mode" was
Dorian 
DEFGABCD and the "2nd mode" was hypodorian ABCDEFGA with the final on D. 
Aeolian ABCDEFGA with the final on A came along rather later.

And if you go to a country with a Latin-based language (France, Italy, and
I 
think also Spain)  you'll find that C is called "Doh" or "Ut" and
alphabetic 
precedence is absent :-)

> Another thing that offends my sense of rightness (:-) is that to get the
> scale from fifths, you have to start on the subdominant.

In that case think in Lydian mode where the scale is FGABCDEF   :-)    
This 
one was mode number 5, which also long predates major, and was the lowest 
numbered mode where the third from the final is a major 3rd.

Not that I'm suggesting any causality.   My only point is that the major 
mode is a johnny-come-lately, and using it as a starting point for 
consideration of things which are older will only lead to misconceptions.

Dave
-- 
David Webber
Author of 'Mozart the Music Processor'
http://www.mozart.co.uk
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