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=               Scales and Modes in Scottish Traditional Music              =
=                                  Jack Campin                              =
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Cautionary Notes
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All the above is somewhat oversimplified: in fact the pitches of Scottish
traditional music are rarely taken from the twelve-note equally-tempered
scale (except for instruments like the accordion that offer no choice in
the matter).  The precise tuning of notes in the scale may be modified to
get purer harmonies or (particularly with Cape Breton fiddling) to imitate
the sound of the bagpipe scale on other instruments.  When this happens,
relative modes need not have exactly the same pitch set; a fiddler may
bend the notes of an A mixolydian tune to bring it closer to the bagpipe
pitch set, while playing a D major tune in something close to the equally
tempered pitch set.  ABC does not yet handle microtonality: when it does
I'll return to this issue.

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==  (c) Jack Campin         http://www.campin.me.uk/          August 2013  ==
==        11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland     ==
==                                                                         ==
==              these pages: http://tinyurl.com/scottishmodes              ==
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