Howzit all,
can anyone give me the origin or point me towards why Bb is H in the german musical alphabet.
Cheers
Mark
el_warko
It isn't.
Bb is B and B is H, if you see what I mean.
A B H C...........This is why you can spell BACH in the Germanic scale.
How this came to be, I've no idea.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
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cheers for the correction
any takers for the origin?
el_warko
The 'H' that was used in parts of Europe (most prominently Germany) came about as the 'black key' notes were being added to the musical alphabet. (remember that only natural notes, aka the 'white keys', existed at first...hence the modal system). These notes weren't added all at once; Bb was the first, as it allowed for the avoidance of a tritone (B-F).
When Bb was introduced, it was obviously a modified 'B' note, so to distinguish between the two, B natural was written as a Gothic letter and Bb was written using a Latin letter (which is rounder, and would become our 'flat' symbol). 'H' was a replacement for the Gothic B 'natural' symbol.
Once another 'black key' was added to the musical alphabet, continuing along the lines of the 'H' note would have been cumbersome, so the system of flats as we now know them was developed. Changes like that don't occur overnight, of course, so Bach's use of the 'H' is merely an example of a residue from an older system, one with which he was familiar. Another somewhat related notational quirk of Bach's time was the use of 1 flat in the signature in the key of G minor (which should have two!!). Suffice to say, there are a few oddities in older notation styles and systems that have long since been fixed. :)
Cheers
el_warko
Cbeers
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