Lyrics & Knowledge Personal Pages Record Shop Auction Links Radio & Media Kids Membership Help
The Mudcat Cafesj



User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
GUEST,Sedayne (Astray) Chords in Folk? (625* d) RE: Chords in Folk? 05 May 08


M.Ted - Slip of the finger; sorry - I meant Ionian, of course.

Jack - When I say Pythagorean scale, I mean a diatonic scale derived from the cycle of fifths. This is how I tune my medieval harp & the thirds sound just fine to my ears, much as they do on the citera. According to Panum (etc.) the European Board Zither (which she refers to as the Balk Monochord, including such instruments as the citera) derives from the Pythagorean monochord. I dare many will dispute this (even I find it a bit far fetched) but it seems at least apposite to a call a fretted non-tempered diatonic scale on a monochordal instrument with such a supposed provenance Pythagorean, though I dare the actual scale on this instrument derives more from the pragmatics of trial & error on the part of the maker than any familiarity with Ancient Greek mathematics as such.

This stuff always gave me a headache to be honest, but years of reading Harry Partch has left me with an enduring mistrust of the various givens of Western Classical Music and the theory and practise thereof.


Post to this Thread -

Back to the Main Forum Page

By clicking on the User Name, you will requery the forum for that user. You will see everything that he or she has posted with that Mudcat name.

By clicking on the Thread Name, you will be sent to the Forum on that thread as if you selected it from the main Mudcat Forum page.
   * Click on the linked number with * to view the thread split into pages (click "d" for chronologically descending).

By clicking on the Subject, you will also go to the thread as if you selected it from the original Forum page, but also go directly to that particular message.

By clicking on the Date (Posted), you will dig out every message posted that day.

Try it all, you will see.