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Ramsay - Nature's Inverse Process for the Minor Genesis

A LESSON FOR THE YOUNG STUDENT


When we have got F1, and from it C3 and A5 by the primes of 3 and 5 multiplying 1, then all the octaves of the these three notes will be found by the prime 2, multiplying by it for the higher, and dividing by it for the lower octaves. When from C3 we have got G9 and E15, multiplying by the primes 3 and 5, then the octaves of these are also found by the prime 2, used again in the same way. And when from G9 we have got D27 and B45 by the primes 3 and 5, the octaves of these are also found by the prime 2. The prime 2 has an unlimited use; the prime 3 is used in the first power, the square, and the cube; the prime 5 in the first power only. Thus is evolved the true major scale, and no need for a B? or any other tinkering.
     Well, how are we to get the true minor scale? There is a remarkable fact, and a beautiful one, which suggests the method. Such is the economy of Nature, that from one system of proportion employed in two different ways, in the one case as periods of vibrations and in the other as quantities of strings, everything in Music's foundation is produced. It is a remarkable fact that the numbers for the lengths of the strings producing the major scale are the numbers of the vibrations producing the minor scale; and the numbers for the lengths of the strings for the minor scale are the numbers of the vibrations of the notes of the major scale. Here Nature reveals to us an inverse process for the discovery of the minor scale of notes.
     In order to find the notes for the next major key above C, we have to multiply the vibration-number of D, which is the top of the dominant C, by 3 and 5. It is out of the key of C at this point that the new key sprouts and grows, and by the primes and method which produce the key of C itself. So if we would find the relative minor of C, let us take the note which is a minor third below D - that is, B - to produce the minor. The minor sprouts and grows from this point of the key of C; for the relative minor grows out of the major, as out of the man at first the woman is taken. Moreover, B is the last-born of the notes for the major scale; for the middles, that is, the thirds of chords, are always produced by the prime 5; and the tops, that is, the fifths of chords, are produced by the prime 3, and are born before the thirds, though placed after them in the chords. Well, because B is the last-born note of the major, as well as a minor third below the top of the highest chord of the major, it seems that the minor should have this for its point of departure. Again, we have seen that the major and the minor are found in their strings and their vibrations by an inverse process, that one going back upon the other; and, there taking Nature's clue, let us proceed by an inverse process of generating the minor. Making B45 our unit, as F1 was our unit for the major, let us divide by 3 and 5 for a root and middle to B, as we multiplied by 3 and 5 for a top and middle to F. B45 divided by 3 is 15; here then is our E, the root of the chord, just where we had found it coming upward; for, remember, we found E15 by multiplying C3 by 5. This E, then, is the same in major and minor. Now B45 divided by 5 is 9; [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 31]

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See Also


inverse and reverse
inverse
inversion
reverse

Created by Dale Pond. Last Modification: Saturday August 27, 2022 06:41:29 MDT by Dale Pond.