Why are there only seven letter-names for notes, A-B-C-D-E-F-G, and yet there are twelve notes? Watch out, it's a trick question.
Watch out, it's a trick question.
Modern theory uses base 12 nomenclature: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B with no fixed '0'makes it easier to notate and work with. Say if you changed the names to give each of the 12 tones a different alphabet:
OK, a trick question. Now stop farting about and tell us.millionrainbows said:The seven letter-names for notes are also reflected in the staff, in the way we notate music. The lines and spaces are not consistent, however: In C, the steps E-F and B-C are semitones, while the rest are whole tones. Why is this? Watch out, it's a trick question.
Well, I'd say that mathematics is a thought-construct. Plato's "ideals" are extrapolated from previous experience.I agree aritficial doesn't imply "arbitrary".
This is a philosophical question really. I tend to the view that music, like mathematics, is a social construct. It doesn't "exist" in nature. But clearly there is a relation with the natural world. With maths, we can see that there are things (e.g. atoms) that correspond well to our social construct of numbers and that is why maths is such a powerful tool. With music, in a less precise manner, there is correspondence with our physical body systems e.g. heartbeat, appreciation of the passage of time and the sound world we live in. I would argue as well that it somehow, in ways we don't really understand, mirrors our consciousness.
Or Sergei .....Just think how different Shostakovich's 8th quartet would have sounded if his parents had named him Boris or Alexei