Music Theory history (Good Brush Up)

GuyBoden

Here's a nice site with a brief history of Music Theory. (The stuff you do for A level at college.)

Link:
Music History

"During the Renaissance period, many composers had experimented with the old modal system by adding in accidentals wherever they thought they sounded good. When modes are followed strictly, each one has its own unique flavour (because each one uses a different pattern of tones and semitones). As more and more pieces began to be peppered with flats and sharps outside the notes dictated by the mode, the various modes became indistinguishable from one another, and eventually just two of the modes came to dominate – the Ionian and the Aeolian.

Today we call the Ionian mode the “Major” and the Aeolian “Minor”, and so was developed the key system we use today."

"some composers started to break away from the traditional forms of harmony which had been the mainstay of serious music since the time of Bach. Instead of using the major and minor scale systems as a basis for their compositions, some composers such as Debussy (1862-1918) experimented with other scales, such as the pentatonic scale and the whole tone scale."

Phil_aka_Pip

@GuyBoden nice find! wow awarded

shame that several of the musical examples are "not available" though (bastard copyright wallahs)