On Aug 17, 2006, at 11:00 AM, A-NO-NE Music wrote:
Christopher Smith / 2006/08/17 / 10:42 AM wrote:
Actually, if you want to get really picky, the #9 in the
"theoretically correct" version is not really correctly spelled--it
should be spelled in most contexts as a b10, or Cnat.
Sorry man, I can't accept b10th. Did we not discuss this before?
b9th
and #9th are altered tension 9th. 10th is an octave above 3rd, and I
never understood how 10th can be a tension. The chair for the most
important note, the 3rd is already taken so 10th can't sit there :-)
Also in extreme pickiness mode, the top tetrachord of the altered
scale is whole-tone, which means it could be "correctly" spelled in a
scalar context with either sharps or flats, making either version
correct in the last beat of the first bar.
Not in my book. Sorry again. Db is lowered 5th, and Eb is tension
b13th, they can't be spelled in sharps theoretically.
Well, the problem there is that the altered scale doesn't behave as a
traditional scale; it behaves more like a hybrid. Two second degrees
(or two third degrees), and no 4th (or 5th, or 6th, depending on how
you spell it.)
Your points about the altered 9th is not really valid, I think,
because the so-called #9 was traditionally an appogiatura resolving
down a tone to the b9 (examples I know of as far back as Mozart) and
was spelled always as the b10. My opinion is that it was named #9 by
jazz musicians to ease communication, but in most cases it is
correctly spelled as b10. If it resolved up a semitone instead of the
traditional downwards resolution, I would consider the #9 spelling.
One gets similar spelling problems with whole tone and diminished
scales, there is no 100% correct spelling in all contexts, so you do
your best.
However, for traditional (one letter, one note) scales, I would go
with traditional spelling in most cases.
One possiblility for the altered scale is to spell it like the
melodic minor ascending which is a semitone higher (G altered = Ab
mel minor) but that only really works in melodic contexts, and of
course the all-important 3rd Bnat gets spelled like a flat 4th Cb,
which is not really right.
OK, but I also admit theory is sorta religion, that, I believe what I
believe :-)
Ha ha! That's for sure!
Further to the problem is that 20th century theory has not really
settled yet the way that earlier periods have, and everyone has their
own ideas about how it works (just listen to us two for proof!)
Christopher
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