Well, Douglas, you DID suggest that writing A Aeolian in three sharps and putting naturals on three notes wasn't a good idea. Who was promoting THAT idea? Nobody here was, which made me think you had misunderstood.
I completely agree that composers are not universal. My only contention was about what performers would prefer. In my own compositions, I generally bow to what the players would read more easily, even over my own ideas about clear communication. Christopher On Thu Dec 12, at ThursdayDec 12 11:01 PM, Douglas Brown wrote: > I did not misunderstand the proposal, but that's okay. Composers have never > been truly universal in the ways they have tackled problems, and so to hear > that one would prefer A Lydian in four sharps shouldn't be a surprise. I > don't mean any disrespect toward those who choose the 3+1 approach; I just > simply disagree and believe that 4 sharps would be better. > > It's not a matter of the "major" modes (Lydian, Mixolydian) and the "minor" > modes (Dorian, Phrygian). I get that. Perhaps you misunderstood what I was > saying about the major key acting as mode. No, it's not a "church mode", but > major and minor are modes in their own rights. If it helps, a list, using > tonic A as our example: > > A Lydian - 4 sharps > A Major - 3 sharps > A Mixolydian - 2 sharps > A Dorian - 1 sharp > A Minor (natural, of course) - no sharps or flats > A Phrygian - 1 flat > > Call major "Ionian" and minor "Aeolian" if you will. Doesn't matter to me. > > Douglas Brown > Adjunct Professor, School of Music > Wayland Baptist University > > > > > Douglas, with respect, I think you misunderstood the proposal. MINOR > modes (those with a minor third) would use a minor key signature. > MAJOR modes (those with a major third) would use a major key > signature. Only the notes that made the mode different from the > parallel major or minor would have to be altered, which never gives > more than one alteration in the Church modes, except for locrian, > which requires two (the flat 2 and flat 5.) > > In our tonal world, I think many musicians think of modes as altered > major or minor scales, rather than a major scale starting on a > different note. > > Christopher > > > > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > Finale@shsu.edu > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > > > > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > Finale@shsu.edu > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
