source file: mills2.txt Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 20:33:16 +0200 Subject: JI modes From: "Collins, Gordon" Daniel Wolf wrote: >Gordon Collins wrote: > >''But the church modes have not been *used* in all that time, >either as a basis for theory or as a basis for practical music.'' > >- a remark which I cannot follow at all, unless one wishes to limit ''music >theory'' and ''practical music'' to what what happened in art music in >German-speaking countries (and even there (here, I should say)), there is >plenty of ''modal'' music to be found in both ''composed'' and folk >traditions. Well, if you take my comment out of the context of this thread, then it does need qualification. I was referring to Western music, but not just in German-speaking areas. >Even if you intend to limit the definition of the church modes to their >treatment under species counterpoint, then you must account for the fact >that composing in various modes has been a continuous and central part of >musical training in the western classical tradition. By the 18th century, the theorists had caught up with the composers in accepting the consolidation of several modes into the major and minor keys. I don't see how you can claim that the church modes continued to be "central" to that music. One does not see references to a "Chopin Etude in the Dorian Mode", for instance. Some people do refer to the major and minor keys as "modes", but that is misleading. Gordon Collins Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 21 May 1997 21:50 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA07131; Wed, 21 May 1997 21:50:24 +0200 Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 21:50:24 +0200 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA07134 Received: (qmail 1858 invoked from network); 21 May 1997 19:50:21 -0000 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 21 May 1997 19:50:21 -0000 Message-Id: <199705211542_MC2-1709-5F8D@compuserve.com> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu