Thanks William.
In the classical scales there are 2 variants, depending on the succession of tones/half tone. The one used here is the first 'symmetrical' scale, being the succession of 1 tone and a half tone for the entire scale. The other one is just the opposite, starting with a half tone. I had a discussion with an American about the name of that scale, but obviously we were talking a different language: in jazz the second variant is sometimes used and is called the major octatonic scale. In my mind, that is impossible for two reasons. What is the definition of a major/minor scale? It depends on the third grade of the scale. In the first that is (for the C scale) Eb flat. In the second variant that is D#, whereas the 4th grade is E natural... How can a octotonic scale be minor or major in this case...? The second misunderstanding was the name. 'Octatonic' is very ungreek, it should be 'octo-tonic' as it is called in other languages (amongst which Dutch). But of course that doesn't alter anything to the composition or its harmony. When first listening, it sounds a little weird, but you get used to it pretty soon.
(The funny thing is that one can play both scale with only 2 fingers on a button accordion.)
And of course you can build different unofficial octotonic scales on every chromatic note.
And now up to the next part, in another scale.
At this moment, I'm learning to work with Dorico. Very interesting, but soooo complicated to start with. I'm pretty familiar with Notion now, and that is a lot more intuitive and easy to learn. But alas, its engraving is rather poor and since I always create a written score and parts, a better suited program was needed. That's where Dorico came in the picture.
Best,
Jos
