I may have missed some of this thread. The bass player wasn't really wrong. Standard notation practice (not folk musicians notation practice) would be to write an E Dorian tune with the E minor/G major key signature of one sharp (F#) and then sharp the individual Cs in the tune. It needs to be explained to a classical musician that in traditional music it's a common practice to use a key signature that represents the mode, in this case dorian. The folk notation practice is not standard. We do it because it's useful for our purposes.
--------- Original Message -------- From: "Nigel Gatherer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [scots-l] Re: Modal Tunes (but seriously) Date: 07/17/03 09:30 Philip Whittaker wrote: > A double bass player...complained that it was in two sharps but was > in E minor. My explanation that it was a dorian not an aeolian > tune...was greeted with some derision. OK, if modes do not mean > anything to you how do you explain this one? That's a case where a music education was a hindrance rather than an advantage. Had the bassist learned the tune aurally it would not have occurred to him to question whether it was in a minor key or dorian; it should just have sounded "right." If it didn't, the further education he'd need would be with his ears rather than his intellect. In my opinion. Good to see you again, Philip. Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
