diatonic vs. ditonic

Discussions on the theoretical basis of the LCC

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sholbling
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Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 6:48 am
Location: Zagreb, Croatia

diatonic vs. ditonic

Post by sholbling »

I am 50 years late, but I have to point out a mistake in the book on page 8 where Mr. Russel states that the word "diatonic" stems from the Latin prefix "di". First of all, it is a Greek word, and secondly, even more importantly, does not mean "two", but rather "through". It is sad that this serious mistake has not been corrected.
sandywilliams
Posts: 201
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:17 pm

Post by sandywilliams »

You may find another mistake or two in the book. Hopefully this won’t diminish your appreciation for the Concept.
BTW According to this website(http://ancienthistory.about.com/library ... 052698.htm)
di- can mean two( and yes you are right, it appears to be of Greek derivation) Assuming it does mean 'two', is there a question about the musical point being made on that page?
bobappleton
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Location: Toronto, Canada
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Post by bobappleton »

diatonic. is that not some kind of soda?

i tried really hard not to write this but i just couldn't hep my self.

welcome to the forum sholbling!

b
dds1234
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:54 am

Post by dds1234 »

Ahh. Finally!

I really think this forum needs a bit of sarcasm!!
Maybe it will liven this joint up a little!

Not that it's dull... Just seems a bit stern! ;)



Welcome sholbling. Great to see some new topics!
sandywilliams
Posts: 201
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:17 pm

Post by sandywilliams »

It's a self-published book and I'm sure doing a reprint to fix the 'mistakes' would be cost-prohibitive.
I'm sure there are some others terms, and typos in the book. If these alone shy you away from the broader scope of the book, so be it.
Russell wasn't a scholar. He was one of jazz's finest composers. It is on this merit alone that one might investigate the LCC with an open mind. Have you heard Jazz in the Space Age, New York, New York, and the Smalltet?
Bagatell
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Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2010 4:06 pm

Post by Bagatell »

In "From Polychords to Polya" Michael Keith uses the term thusly -
K-atonic interval sets. An interesting type of interval set is one in
which all intervals between 1 and k (inclusive) are represented, for some
k. Such a set is referred to as ^-atonic, after the musical term diatonic
which is used for the case k = 2. We refer to k = 3, 4,... as triatonic,
quadratonic, etc.
chespernevins
Posts: 368
Joined: Sat Sep 16, 2006 7:34 am

Post by chespernevins »

ML,

Did you get the sense, in the barbershop days, that the "two tonics in the major scale" idea was strictly from George Russell, or was it something that was in the air in general, that Russell built upon?

Russell does say that he was inspired by hearing beboppers ending tunes on chords with the b5.
guitarjazz
Posts: 83
Joined: Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:15 pm

Post by guitarjazz »

[quote]IMO The musicians of today are far too casual in their usage of the term "diatonic".
It does have a much more specific definition that most musicians are unaware of.[/quote][color=blue][/color]
Gary Campbell( who taught Michael Brecker his practice routine, http://www.garycampbelljazz.com) uses the term 'diatonic' thirds when practicing pentatonic scales even though the pattern may actually be alternating between thirds and fourths.
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