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| 16 | <h1>Quotations</h1> |
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| 22 | |
| 23 | <!-- Page published by Emacs Muse begins here --><blockquote> |
| 24 | <p class="quoted"> |
| 25 | There are those who consider that studies in harmony, counterpoint, |
| 26 | and fugue are the exclusive province of the intended composer. But if |
| 27 | we reflect that theory must follow practice, rarely preceding it |
| 28 | except by chance, we must realize that musical theory is not a set of |
| 29 | directions for composing music. It is rather the collected and |
| 30 | systematized deductions gathered by observing the practice of |
| 31 | composers over a long time, and it attempts to set forth what is or |
| 32 | has been their common practice. It tells not how music will be written |
| 33 | in the future, but how music has been written in the past.</p> |
| 34 | <p class="quoted">The results of such a definition of the true nature of musical theory |
| 35 | are many and important. First of all, it is clear that this knowledge |
| 36 | is indispensable to musicians in all fields of the art, whether they |
| 37 | be composers, performers, conductors, critics, teachers, or |
| 38 | musicologists. Indeed, a secure grounding in theory is even more a |
| 39 | necessity to the musical scholar than to the composer, since it forms |
| 40 | the basis for any intelligent appraisal of the individual styles of |
| 41 | the past or present.</p> |
| 42 | <p class="quoted">On the other hand, the person gifted for creative musical composition |
| 43 | is taking a serious risk in assuming that this genius is great enough |
| 44 | to get along without a deep knowledge of the common practice of |
| 45 | composers. Mastery of the technical or theoretical aspects of music |
| 46 | should be carried out by him as a life's work, running parallel to his |
| 47 | creative activity but quite separate from it. In the one he is |
| 48 | following common practice, while in the other he is responsible solely |
| 49 | to the dictates of his own personal tastes and urge for expression.</p> |
| 50 | |
| 51 | </blockquote> |
| 52 | |
| 53 | <p>Walter Piston (Intro to the first edition of <em>Harmony</em>)</p> |
| 54 | |
| 55 | <p>—</p> |
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| 82 | <p class="cke-footer">Mike: I WAS NOT MICROWAVED. |
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| 84 | <p class="cke-timestamp">Last Modified: |
| 85 | March 13, 2008</p> |
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