"(Speaking of "old words for new concepts", what about the naming of Latin liturgical modes after Greek ones, when the Greek concept of mode bears little relation? ;-)"

Yep! With you there. And since we don't have anything earlier than the Greeks - who were rabbiting on about 'older times', how do we know THEY didn't stuff it up too?
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"It's useful to have the historical perspective, but such limited notions are not very helpful"

Well to PROPERLY understand 'Science' - STILL a branch of Philosophy! - you must NOT encourage Society as a whole to mindlessly discard(@@@) all the old 'failed theories' such as 'Philostogen', etc, nor indeed wilfully discard the whole box and dice of 'Evolution Theory' and sit mindlessly chanting "Intelligent Design!", just cause that's easier for SOME people to follow....

:-P

(@@@)
Forgetting old 'wrong paths' turns Science into just another 'Faith Based Philosophy', as we can no longer PROVE that other 'guesses' were tried, and were shown NOT to work satisfactorally...

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"wants to recognise a Mixolydian tune when he hears it, or needs to play a C Dorian accompaniment on a particular instrument - When teaching someone to ride a bike, do you expatiate on power conversion?"

Ah, yes, ... "Lies to Children!" (telling total beginners only a simplified version!)

I had already covered that, I thought, in my remarks about 'Modern-Pseudo-Modes', but "Lies to Children" surely only is a 'Starting Point' in a real Musical Education?!!! :-)

And as long as your 'student' doesn't end up 'knowing it all' in utter misguided ignorance, and then start trying to misguidedly impress those who know even less... Learning is a life-long process...


(Spellchecker Humour; Mixolydian -> Misleading!)