Talk:Diatonic scale/Archive 1

message: I have thought, having heard, for years that diatonic = dia-tonic = through the-tonic. Dia- being a Greek prefix used commonly medicine (diagnosis). Hyacinth 22:40, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Dia

message: As someone above asked, what are the characteristics? What are the common elements?
May I propose the following two-part definition?
A diatonic scale is a seven-note scale comprising a sequence of tones and semitones in which the semitones are maximally separated.
Is it possible to start with this?
I don't find the reference to staves, lines and spaces helpful, at least not right at the top.
Tony 16:47, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Harvard's definition says: "The natural scale, consisting of five whole tones and two semitones, as it is produced on the white keys of the keyboard." We can't copy theirs, of course, but I thought it might be useful for reference. Will anyone try to read this WP article who doesn't know how the piano keyboard is structured? Conversely, if they don't, is there any chance we'll be able to define "diatonic" in a way they'll understand? —Wahoofive (talk) 22:32, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  basic definition 

message: All of this stuff about tetrachords and meantone temperament is not going to help us explain the concept to anyone but advanced theoretical musicians. I want to recast the second paragraph in simpler terms. In addition, I want to position the concept briefly in cultural/geographical terms. Tony 02:28, 19 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Go for it. —Wahoofive (talk) 03:58, 19 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  recent and impending changes 

message: Nope, it sure isn't a good heading. Tony 12:14, 29 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Technical composition of diatonic scales 

message: I think this very controversial claim:
*These unique relationships are as follows: Only certain divisions of the octave, 12 and 20 included, allow uniqueness, coherence, and transpositional simplicity, and that only the diatonic and pentatonic subsets of the 12-tone chromatic set follow these constraints (Balzano, 1980, 1982).
belongs in a Balzano article, not a diatonic scale article. It's hardly NPOV to put it here. If no one objects, I'll remove it. Gene Ward Smith 08:41, 20 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I object, if a bit late. Why is it controversial, nevermind very? So you've added original research to replace the information cited in Balzano? Hyacinth 23:16, 19 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Hyacinth, I have to say that I agree that the removed text was unsatisfactory. Tony 06:19, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Good for you. Why? Hyacinth 23:12, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Balzano stuff 

message: What's a "seven-note strictly proper scale"? Tony 09:48, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Query 

message: how can we clear up the inconsistencies in the definition of the diatonic scale.
we talk about 7 notes and 7 intervals and do re mi fa so la ti do.
7 intervals implies 8 notes. 
or do we except the inconsistencies?  joe 14:34, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Definition of Diatonic Scale 

message: 'The diatonic collection contains each interval class a unique number of times' - I find this sentence utterly obscure. Does it say anything nontrivial? And if so, what? --Tdent 17:54, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: There are three major thirds in the diatonic scale, and the only intervals that are represented exactly three times are the major third, its inversion the minor sixth, and of course octave compounds of those. In other words, the number of times it contains the major third interval class (3) is unique in that no other interval class appears that same number of times. Other scales lack this property: for example the equal-tempered chromatic scale has 12 semitones and also 12 perfect fourths. Is this worth explaining in detail in the article? —Keenan Pepper 20:51, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  What does this mean? 

message: I don't understand why the template is placed above the External Links section on many of the individual Diatonic scale pages, as in D major. I have always seen nav templates juxtaposed with categories at the bottom, like the Havana article. z ε n 02:56, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Diatonic Template 

message: The new article is now well and truly settled in, and has quite a lot of content. I suggest that we now discontinue the general debate here over these terms (see last section), and confine it to Talk:Diatonic and chromatic. I'll sure there will be quite spirited debate.
– Noetica♬ Talk 10:17, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: [[Diatonic and chromatic]] now established