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HIDDEN ELEMENTS SOUND MUSIC AND The musical heritage of the West, which we've been led to believe was sourced from the Greeks, owes a great debt to the ancient Sumerians, Babylonians and Egyptians. ne of the most difficult questions for a composer to answer is, "From where is the inspiration drawn to create a new work of music?" Given that the craft and grammar of music are already formulated in the minds of the musical establish- ment, what is there left that has never been in place before? The answer lies in one's perception of a complete formulation, and at what stage a learning curve can be con- sidered terminated. Blinkered by its own accepted traditions, the academic music establishment insists that the development of the "modal form" scale system commenced with the Greeks or Romans—a view similar to the insistence by fundamentalist churches that Homo sapiens was created precisely as stated in the Book of Genesis. We now know that the Darwinian and archaeological findings prove otherwise, but dogma has a habit of narrowing the mind. This follows from an understanding that if you repeat something often enough and it is not questioned strongly enough, it can become established as an apparent truth. Fortunately, we have reached a time when we have the opportunity to examine ambigu- ous matters without having our lives threatened by some kind of Inquisition. We are able to debate these issues freely with people who have "eyes to see and ears to hear". Currently, our free-thinking Light Workers are able to expand upon these issues, and, liaising with others, many use the World Wide Web to support the questing endeavour in a profound way. Even the Vatican curators have begun using the Internet to publish infor- mation from their archives, although much still remains secreted at this stage. Many peo- ple see this as a long-awaited chance to confront and overturn the many schisms which exist between the different religions. This is only a start, but it is hoped that the new mil- lennium will bring a welcome and open tolerance between the many Faiths on this planet. It will be interesting to see how the future monarch of Britain will deal with the prevailing controversial issue of defending The Faith, or Faiths, when the moment for decision arrives. My chosen route into the quest for the connections to ancient music begins with exam- ining the root stems of modal form. Scales and modes can be simply understood as the superstructure for melodic phrases. Modes are made up of arrangements of tones and semitones, without any necessary regard to the tonic or main note, so modal form is not governed by the system of major and minor keys that denotes music with a tonal design. The tonic of a scale is the first note of the scale; e.g., the tonic note of the scale of F minor is F. Tones, in this regard, are intervals of the major second or made up of two semitones. In the Christian Church, plainchant was used to enhance the ritual in services, and ecclesiastical plainchant evolved from these root modes, as have the complete sets of minor and major scales we use in Western music today. As far back as the 4th-century era of Emperor Constantine, a solemn chant, the Introit, accompanied formal processions from the sacristy to the altar; the Offertory was sung in the Communion preparation; and, in the Communion itself, a chant accompanied the distribution of the bread and wine to the congregation. All this was, of course, sung originally in Latin. Significantly, the Roman Mass became the most important form throughout Christendom, although, interestingly, embracing some Greek with the inclusion of the phrase Kyrie eleison ("Lord have mercy"). This chant was eventually succeeded by the hymn, Gloria in excelsis Deo. The Sanctus can be traced as far back as 3rd-century Alexandria, but the Agnus Dei was not introduced until the 7th century. Early chant was always sung by men, because women were not allowed to participate in the churches—as detailed in my essay, "Feminine Element in Mankind" (see website www.mediaquest.co.uk/awfemel.html). by Adrian Wagner, CIROS © 1999 Multi MediaQuest International Ltd Dyfed, Wales, UK Telephone: +44 (0)1239 710594 Fax: +44 (0)1239 711343 E-mail: adrian@mediaquest.co.uk Website: www.mediaquest.co.uk NEXUS - 35 DECEMBER 1999 — JANUARY 2000