With one end secured by a hitch pin, the string passed over a fixed bar or nut, across a moveable bridge, over a second fixed bar, finally secured at its other end by an adjustable tuning peg. Its base was a resonating box, over which stretched a single string. The Greeks studied the relationship between string length and pitch with an instrument called the monochord.

This topic is covered in much greater detail in the thesis referenced below. Many of these ideas may indeed have originated with the Babylonians. He also cited 'mixed' scales of the 'diatonic-chromatic' genre (a modern example being our 'harmonic minor'), as did Plutarch (46-127), Greek historian, biographer, essayist, supposed author of De musica, (taken from Plutarch's Moralia). Aristoxenus' view is that its origins 'go back into the night of time'. The chromatic scale, which may be derived from the diatonic scale, was also ancient. 'We can establish that the diatonic is the first ( proton) and the oldest ( presbyteron) this is the type that the human voice naturally finds' (Harmonic Elements I, cited by Haik-Vantoura in her Les 150 Psaumes dans leurs melodies antiques, p. About the origin of the diatonic scale, the ancient Greek music theoretician, Aristoxenus of Tarantum (fourth century B.C.), wrote: We owe the concept of scale and temperament to the ancient Greeks. The 'Minor Key' Problem :: Altered Chords :: Neapolitan Sixth :: Symmetrical Scales :: Table of Useful Scales Origin of Diatonic and Chromatic Scales :: Modes :: Jazz Scales :: Blues :: Bebop Scales :: Pentatonic Scales Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) Austrian composer Give me the best instruments in Europe, but listeners who understand nothing or do not wish to understand and who do not feel with me in what I am playing, and all my pleasure is spoilt. Previous lesson :: next lesson :: contents :: index :: manuscript paper :: comments or queries? To use the menu you must first enable javascript

D flat major scale lonian