Re: (RL) Minor Keys - wtf?

[KWood@lightbridge.com]

The fog clears a little, becoming more of a mist, with some very
interesting shapes lurking in the distance.

Thanks all!





Maurice Rickard <maurice@mauricerickard.com> on 07/16/2001 11:19:06 PM

Please respond to matters@richardlloyd.com

To:   matters@richardlloyd.com
cc:    (bcc: Kent Wood/Lightbridge)
Subject:  Re: (RL) Minor Keys - wtf?



At 11:55 AM -0400 7/16/01, KWood@lightbridge.com wrote:
>This feels like it may well lead to a better understanding of
>what, exactly, a 'key' is, or perhaps to a sudden craving for alcoholic
>beverages.

Both, maybe.

>Up until now I have pictured keys and such as a very
>cut-and-dry collection of musical 'facts', wheras it seems to be much more
>a body of principles that can be applied to the 12-tone scale in any
number
>of ways.

The breakthrough for me was to realize it as a circle, or (sometimes
more useful) a spiral.  Things keep sliding and wrapping around.  as
you move them.  Or maybe think of it like a compass--once you find
North (the tonic) you slide the outer ring (chord demarcations)
around so that they reflect the situation you're in.  ("So if the
tonic's here, then the dominant's over there, and that's the
subdominant...")

>I'll wager that major keys and minor keys are emphasized because
>they have the most pleasing and familiar sounds, but that other keys are
>(technically) just as valid.

I'm sure there are historical reasons for all of this, some of which
Richard talks about in his lessons.  Harry Partch's _Genesis of a
Music_ (I think that's the title) is also a fascinating explication
of how scales and temperaments evolved.  Keep in mind that before
keyboards got black keys, the major scale was always C, the minor
scale was always A, etc.  Have a tune in G?  It's mixolydian.  Then
think about how mind-blowing it must have been to be able to slide
these relationships around and play, say, a G major scale, or Bb
minor... And then there's the various different tempering systems.
Under "equal" temperament, octaves, fourths, and fifths are good, and
thirds and seconds less so, but at least it's generally
consistent--you can play any tune in any key you like and it sounds
essentially the same.  In other temperaments, there were some
intervals you just couldn't play, because they were so far out of
tune.  It was a necessary compromise to get the _other_ intervals in
tune.  It's fascinating and kind of dizzying.

Fond of Just Intonation* myself,
Maurice

*ObRL, kind of: Just Intonation is the tuning system used by LaMonte
Young, among others.  One of Young's ensemble, of course, was John
Cale, who played drones in Just Intonation in the VU, possibly
influencing...nah, too much of a stretch.  But Young's music (_The
Well-Tuned Piano_ and _The Second Dream of the High-Tension Step-Down
Transformer_--for eight trumpets) is pretty amazing stuff.
--
Maurice Rickard
http://mauricerickard.com/
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