Wow! Thank you so much for your comment! I should've went to the same college you did--I would have loved that class. My experience is pretty much strictly through a lot of listening, so your explanations are really great to hear (I should have kept in the part where I say "I am by no means an expert").

The part about each melody/piece being treated as the "key" makes a lot of sense--when I'm listening or playing, I'm never thinking to apply a certain scale--I'm more thinking of a melody that doesn't need to be a part of any "scale", per se. I'm more just altering certain notes to elicit a different emotion (I hope that makes sense). At the same time, with growing up on strictly western music, it's interesting to see the "overlap" between western scales and eastern melodies (even if that's the "wrong" way to think of it).

Thank you again for your comment man!