Fwd: Re: minstrel: re modes, old flute

[Corwen Ap Broch]

> --- Corrie Bergeron <corrie at itasca.net> wrote:
> > >...an old flute that played in Dorian...
> > 
> > I'm not professionally trained in music theory, but
> > wouldn't any diatonic
> > instrument be able to play a Dorian mode?
 
 If its the flute I'm thinking of then its a tabor pipe, a
 'three holed fipple flute' (thats a whistle with 3 holes
 not
 6) that gets the notes of a full octave by overblowing.
 Depending on the position and size of the holes different
 scales are produced. Its harder to half-hole a tabor than a
 whistle so you tend to play in the scale you've got rather
 than sharpen /flatten notes.
> 
> Ionian is C major - the white keys 
> starting on
> >  C.  Its wholestep/halfstep pattern is W W H W W W H.  
> Dorian is the same
> >  notes but starting on D - D E F G A B C D - the 
 wholestep/halfstep pattern
 
 It may be that the ancient tabor has no 'C' note, starting
 on
 the second note of the scale, which would mean you could
 only
 play in modes that start on the 'D' or a higher note (but
 that would give you a shorter scale). Dorian would be the
 natural mode of the instrument.
 
 There is a great site on Tabor (which these days is usually
 played with a drum in the other hand):
 
 http://www.taborers.co.uk/
 
 which also includes info on the Basque equivalent, a three
 holed pipe that plays in a minor scale (perhaps the direct
 descendant of the paleolithic pipe).
 
 Corwen 
 
 


=====
Corwen ap Broch
Stiltwalker, percussionist,penny whistle/low whistle didjeridu player. Available for gigs!
http://www.magma.ca/~citywich/corwen/
http://www.geocities.com/wildmanofthewoods/index.html
Brighter than the heavenly stars are the infinite eyes that night has opened within us. (Novalis)

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