Ramsay
In a musical air or harmony, i.e., when once a key has been instituted in the ear, all the various notes and chords seem animated and imbued with tendency and motion; and the center of attraction and repose is the tonic, i.e., the key-note or key-chord. The moving notes have certain leanings or attractions to other notes. These leanings are from two causes, local proximity and native affinity. The attraction of native affinity arises from the birth and kindred of the notes as seen in the six-octave genesis, and pertains to their harmonic combinations. The attraction of local proximity arises from the way the notes are marshalled compactly in the octave scale which appears at the head of the genesis, and pertains to their melodic succession. In this last scale the proximities are diverse; the 53 commas of the octave being so divided as to give larger and lesser distances between the notes; and of course the attraction of proximity is strongest between the nearest; a note will prefer to move 5 commas rather than 8 or 9 commas to find rest. Thus far PROXIMITY. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 91]
Thus chord tends toward chord, and note leans toward note, and it has to be considered whether the attraction of affinity or proximity be strongest while working out the charming effects of a composition. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 92]
"There are two distinct laws which rule in astronomy - viz., masses and distances; and there are two distinct laws which rule in music - affinities and proximities. The notes produced by simple ratios as 1:2, 2:3, 3:4, etc., are attracted to each other by the law of affinity; notes which are beside each other in the octave scale and have moderately complex ratios as 9:10 and 15:16, are attracted to each other by their proximities. F and C, and C and G, and G and D are related to each other by affinity. C is related to the fifth below and the fifth above; G is related to the fifth above and the fifth below. F and C, C and G, and G and D are never nearer to each other than a fifth or a fourth, and in either case they [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 95]
See Also