Ever wonder why we think of the musical scale (do - re - mi - fa - so - la - ti - do) as beginning at middle C on a piano? C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C. Those are the notes of the major scale, in C major, which uses all white notes. And all the classical modes are based on iterations of that. From C to C is the major scale (aka the Ionian mode). From D to D is C major's relative Dorian mode. From E to E is the relative Phrygian mode. Etc. All the modes are defined based on their position in the major scale. Dorian is the second mode, Phyrgian the third,etc.

But doesn't it make more sense that we would start at A? A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A? From an alphabetical standpoint, it makes the most sense. Why start at C? But from A to A is the minor scale (aka the Aeolian mode), the saddest of all the scales. I haven't done any research on this, and i'm sure that there's an explanation based on the instruments that came before the piano like the harpischord and the pipe organ, but it seems to me that our earliest music theory seems to assume that music is naturally sad.

This makes more sense to me. When i think of music based on the major scale, i think of gratingly annoying music like Happy Birthday, advertising jingles, and Country music. Most music that has resonance with people is sad, because people's lives are generally sad, or at least because it is the tragic things that have the most impact on us. I don't know when we started thinking about things in terms of C instead of A, but i bet it was based on a decision by the Roman Catholic church in medieval times, thinking that music should be used to uplift peoples' spirits (although a lot of church music is also sad). Whenever it was done, it almost seems like a sloppy job of brainwashing. I guess it was too late to actually rename the actual notes, but it's a pretty big clue to leave behind.

actually.. the church used modal scales, dorian was the first one. you also have to realize that the alphabets they used back then are different. major scales didn't exist until 700 years later, after the notation was developed. the western sacred music tradition, which is where our notation comes from, evolved totally separate from other traditions of music(folk music). music wasn't meant to uplift people, the point of sacred music was to highlight the the words and to capture people's attention.

by the way, we don't know why... too complicated. i only got a stupid masters degree from a school that doesn't teach you jack.