Re: Unanswered Question #1

"paramucho" <paramucho@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:47faf461.13861411@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Theorists such as Alexandre Frere argued that the minor key is based
> on the Dorian....

Originally I assumed it to be based on Aeolian.  Nowadays I'm convinced
that 
"based on" is probably a poor concept, but also that Dorian had a lot more

to do with it,  if only because it was far more popular over a far longer 
period.

I regard key signature as more or less irrelevant - they never sat easily 
with the minor mode.   If one things of minor as having a flexible 6th and

7th (and text books describe both 6ths and 7ths as "diatonic" in the
minor) 
then there are four possible scales, all very familiar:

min6 min7   - aeolian/natural minor/descending melodic minor
min6 maj7  - harmonic minor
maj6 min7  - dorian
maj6 maj7  - ascending melodic minor

It seems obvious that the minor mode is a continuance of musica ficta in 
which we recognise some sort of democratic equality between the two 6ths
and 
the two 7ths.    In as much as a subset of the diatonic notes can form 
either an aeolian or dorian scale, than they are both contributors. 
Historically, what was there before evolved into minor via musica ficta. 
As 
both Dorian and Aeolian were there,  it surely makes little sense to 
describe minor as "based on" one rather than the other  (unless Dorian was

indeed much more common than Aeolian - in which case it may have the
better 
claim).

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