Re: Ptolemy's Equable Diatonic and Subminor scales

The order favored by Ptolemy is 12/11 x 11/10 x 10/9 or
1/1 12/11 6/5 4/3 3/2 18/11 9/5 2/1 rather than the inversion.
Ptolemy describes it as "rather foreign and rustic" sounding, so perhaps
he heard something similar being played in 2nd Century CE Alexandria.
It is certainly similar to extant Near Eastern scales, though are closer
to the mode starting with the 9/8 disjunctive tone.

Personally, I prefer the mode of the subminor tritriadic scale
that is 1/1 9/8 7/6 4/3 3/2 14/9 7/4 2/1 as it has 6:7:9 triads
on 1/1 4/3 and 3/2. It sounds like a darker version of the natural
minor mode.

--John

On Monday 17 May 2004 09:41 am, John Chalmers wrote:
> The order favored by Ptolemy is 12/11 x 11/10 x 10/9 or
> 1/1 12/11 6/5 4/3 3/2 18/11 9/5 2/1 rather than the inversion.
> Ptolemy describes it as "rather foreign and rustic" sounding, so perhaps
> he heard something similar being played in 2nd Century CE Alexandria.
> It is certainly similar to extant Near Eastern scales, though are closer
> to the mode starting with the 9/8 disjunctive tone.
>
> Personally, I prefer the mode of the subminor tritriadic scale
> that is 1/1 9/8 7/6 4/3 3/2 14/9 7/4 2/1 as it has 6:7:9 triads
> on 1/1 4/3 and 3/2. It sounds like a darker version of the natural
> minor mode.

John and friends,

Well, this looks like one of those examples of a mistaken understanding or
premiss producing something fruitful *anyway*......I rather like my
'inverted' form, with it's *two* non-standard step sizes per tetrachord (10/9
and 11/9). The only oddity in the one John says is the 12/11 step.

One could argue that 10/9 is not xentonal at all, and I would agree. However,
it is not often used as a tonic to 2nd degree step, but as a 2nd to 3rd
degree step, as in (1/1, 9/8, 5/4), where it occurs between 9/8 and 5/4....

Best,
Aaron Krister Johnson
http://www.dividebypi.com
http://www.akjmusic.com