This book is designed for (a) the student who may be preparing for a diploma or University degree and (b) the amateur music-lover
who has an enquiring turn of mind. In the case of the first it is desirable that sufficient preliminary work should have been done to enable the student to handle the language of
music with some degree of insight. Thus ‘standard’ things are not always discussed very fully, it being the intention that he should continue thinking for himself along the lines indicated. He should, at this stage, never accept a rule from any text-book without enquiring ‘Why?’ A particular aim of the book, in fact, has been to bridge the gap between the prohibitions laid down by the theorists and the practice of those composers whose genius to lie in the breaking of rules. Some people are inclined to treat all notes as equals. This book therefore devotes a chapter straight away to the Leading Note to show that notes, like men, are far from equal and their inclinations, like their opportunities, vary very considerably. Destroy the ‘leading’ tendency in music and you destroy music. Where practicable, the examples from live music have been dated so that the reader can quickly get his historical bearing. An historical approach is vital for true thinking in music – not just reading the history books but getting to know the music itself. The
exercises, which are set at the chapter ends, have all been worked by students and every process must be heard rather than seen. The statement that music is for the ear may sound like I truism but it cannot too often be emphasised. In all good music there is the subtle blending of the familiar with the unfamiliar. The orthodox is taught simply because the unorthodox cannot be taught. An unorthodox style could never fully be appreciated until the orthodox is familiar. I - The Orthodox and the unorthodox. II - Leading notes. III - Unessential notes. IV - Chords and their treatment. V - Color in music. VI - Form and flow.