pold

I think in music, like in spoken language, there are synonyms, and people sometimes are afraid of using them or how to use them.

Thanks for your replies. But I am still confused. If Bach or Mozart considered G# as a diatonic part of A minor why did they write A-G#-G even in contexts where they are clearly in C major rather than A minor? Today composers they just use # for ascending and b for descending chromatic passages, I think there is nothing wrong with it as long as you consider them as passing notes, it looks like the most logical thing. That's why I don't understand the way they used it in the baroque period.:wacko:

I was talking only about situations where chromatic note are used just as ornament, embellishment, without changing the function of the chord. Anybody knows for example why Mozart (see the strings quartets etc.) used all those chromatic notes without worrying whether it's flat or sharp?

If it was up to me I wouldn't mind as a rule to write always # when the passage is ascending, and b when the passage is descending. But I have many doubts about it: 1- Why baroque or classical composers wrote # in descending passages where the 7th of the harmonic minor was involved? For example in C major they would never do: A-Ab-G, because the 7th in A harmonic minor is always G#. So they would go: A-G#-G. 2- Why composers such Mozart would respect the rule above, but in all the other cases would write both # or b for ascending or descending chromatic passages? There was any rule or was random choice? 3- If I write something in baroque style do I have to respect the rule above? What do you guys think? thanks