tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jul 02 14:15:43 1998
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Re: Question from a newbie
On Thu, 2 Jul 1998, TPO wrote:
> I'm not into music in any language, so am I really missing something here?
>
> do 1
> ra 2
> mi 3
> fa 4
> so 5
> la 6
> ti 7
> do 8
>
> an octave... 1 thru 8; 1 and 8 are both do
>
> yu 1
> bIm 2
> 'egh 3
> loS 4
> vagh 5
> jav 6
> Soch 7
> chorgh 8
> yu 9
>
> nonatonic... 1 thru 9; 1 and 9 are both yu
>
> If what you're saying about the klingon scale was applied to our scale then
> we really only have seven notes.
> But Octave means eight.
>
> I'm confused.
This is classic fencepost error. In standard human music terminology
which has been used for hundreds of years, intervals are referred to by
how many steps of the (major or minor) scale they cover, _plus one_.
Thus, a third is two steps (e.g. from A to C, or C to E), a fifth is
four steps (e.g. C up to G), and an octave is seven steps, C up to the
next C. Don't look at me, I didn't make it up.
However, the term (n)-atonic refers to how many notes are in the scale.
Our major and minor scales have only seven notes, A through G, hence
they are heptatonic. The Chinese scale (e.g. C D E G A c) has only five
notes, therefore it is pentatonic.
Now do you see where the problem is? MO says that (a) tlhIngan scales
are nonatonic, (b) they have eight note names, and (c) that they repeat
at the nonave. They can't all be right--(a) indicates one more note in
the scale than (b) and (c). Since (c) is what he said when somebody
asked for clarification and agrees with (b), I'm assuming (a) is just an
error on his part caused by his not knowing much music theory.
--pH <[email protected]> http://library.wustl.edu/~manynote
O
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