Dear JP,

When you retune the F#, the modes would keep the same names and all
would shift up a fifth or down a fourth.

You could call these

Dorian D
Ionian C
Aeolian A
Mixolydian G

Dorian A
Ionian G
Aeolian E
Mixolydian D

To build a Dorian scale on A, you obviously need an F#.

The question is whether these were the keys used before Carolan.
Carolan seems mostly to have favoured D, C, #G and #E. I'm being
perhaps too gracious in admitting some of his tunes as Aeolian A and
I need to look into that more. Bunting does mention it.

These Ruaidhrì Dall tunes sit on the natural gamut.

Cumha Peathar Ruaidhrì 6D-F aaa-a
Is Eagal Leam am Bàs 6D-B aaa-a
Seabhac na hÉirne-Port Atholl 6D-B ff-a
Port Gordon 6D?-B aaa-c
Port Priest 5C gg-c
Suipear Thighearn Leòid 6C?-F ccc-d
Da Mihi Manum 6G bbb-d
Port Atholl 5/6G bbb-d

The latter three might seem a little higher in range. It may be that
we should question whether these tunes were originally played so high.

Three tunes relate to Suipear Thighearn Leòid. The Torloisk Air iii
would have a range of aaa-c as 6C-FB, the Bowie Fàilte Mhic Leòid as
6C-F would have a range of aaa-e. The Dow Fàilte Bheag Mhic Leòid
would have a range of ddd-d as 6C, a full fourth up from Cumha
Peathar Ruaidhrì.

This rise of a fourth in range could be solved by adding an F#.

Suipear Thighearn Leòid 6#A-C gg-a
Fàilte Bheag Mhic Leòid 6#G-C aaa-a

Fàilte Mhic Leòid sits well in either natural or one sharp tuning but
the thought of playing Da Mihi Manum or Port Atholl in 6#D feels a
bit alien.

It may be that all of Ruaidhrì Dall's puirt were originally meant to
be played in the natural tuning and perhaps with c sisters. If so,
one wonders if this points back to a time when no accidentals were
used on the Gaelic harp, that there was possibly even no
transposition of instrumental melodies unless the sisters were
lowered to G, thus occasioning the need for an F#.

Ruaidhrì Dall perhaps at least shows us that one minor key was used,
D, and two majors, G and C. The finals are found as comhlaí c, féola
g and guaillí na gcomhlaí d.

My own work on the song modes has floundered in the face of not
having a computer program which can manipulate the masses of data in
the ways I would need and I find it too mentally laborious and time-
consuming to try to achieve the same results without a program when
I've got so much else to do. So it looks like my attempts to find a
framework which isn't mere whim for the waulking songs on the Gaelic
harp gamut have met an impasse. Dais agus daingeataidh. Still
beguiled by the possibility of that F-B plagal mode.

Beannachdan,


Alasdair









--- In clairseach@..., "Johny" <ramserpent@...> wrote:
>
> Folks,
>
> Wondering if the harp is tuned with F sharp about the scales/modes
this creates.
>
> I gather this creates a G major scale and that due to the sharp it
does not fit with the regular
> modes, aside from G Ionian (I think).
>
> So what is the scale/mode with this tuning, if the keys of AC and D
are used as well as G.
>
> e.g. ABCDEFsharpGA etc.
>
> Is there a name for these modes/scales???
>
> Cheers
>
> JP
>