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1 | <quote> |
2 | There are those who consider that studies in harmony, counterpoint, |
3 | and fugue are the exclusive province of the intended composer. But if |
4 | we reflect that theory must follow practice, rarely preceding it |
5 | except by chance, we must realize that musical theory is not a set of |
6 | directions for composing music. It is rather the collected and |
7 | systematized deductions gathered by observing the practice of |
8 | composers over a long time, and it attempts to set forth what is or |
9 | has been their common practice. It tells not how music will be written |
10 | in the future, but how music has been written in the past. |
11 | |
12 | The results of such a definition of the true nature of musical theory |
13 | are many and important. First of all, it is clear that this knowledge |
14 | is indispensable to musicians in all fields of the art, whether they |
15 | be composers, performers, conductors, critics, teachers, or |
16 | musicologists. Indeed, a secure grounding in theory is even more a |
17 | necessity to the musical scholar than to the composer, since it forms |
18 | the basis for any intelligent appraisal of the individual styles of |
19 | the past or present. |
20 | |
21 | On the other hand, the person gifted for creative musical composition |
22 | is taking a serious risk in assuming that this genius is great enough |
23 | to get along without a deep knowledge of the common practice of |
24 | composers. Mastery of the technical or theoretical aspects of music |
25 | should be carried out by him as a life's work, running parallel to his |
26 | creative activity but quite separate from it. In the one he is |
27 | following common practice, while in the other he is responsible solely |
28 | to the dictates of his own personal tastes and urge for expression. |
29 | </quote> |
30 | |
31 | Walter Piston (Intro to the first edition of *Harmony*) |
32 | |
33 | -- |