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Gauntlet Review: David/Fifths

🔗X. J. Scott <xjscott@...>

7/19/2001 2:53:02 PM

David,

Both your pieces are very pleasant and expressive and I
enjoyed them.

The tunings you used are particularly interesting.

I think it is quite clear from these examples that
harmony does not require fifths.

--

Might I add something I havwe said before that often
one may find major and/or minor sixths available but no
fifths and thus may form even conventional harmonies,
by using first and second inversion chords.

Also, I seem to recall from music theory that in common
practice literature, it is more often that the fifth is
omitted from a seventh chord, with no change in the
character or recognizability of the chord, that it is
that a third will be omitted. I recall that in four
part harmony of the baroque period we see quite often
the tonic of a seventh chord being doubled up and the
fifth ommitted.

And of course during the entire period meantone was
used, parallel fifths were largely eschewed, wheras
parallel motion by fifths was quite often seen.

The 9th root of 7:3 tuning is also an example of a
tuning with no fifths, but which can easily form major
and minor triads using sixths instead.

Thanks again for this enlightening example!

- Jeff