Re: On the Grammar of Music

[Tom Brennan <g_brennantg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Stephen, I have to agree with you on this one.  Anyone who composes, teaches
music, seriously plays a musical instrument, tunes pianos etc., or other related
areas will be familiar with at least some of the music theory rules governing
various types of music.  Just as there are those outside the mainstream of
languages such as englisn (ebonics comes to mind) there are those who break
musical rules but they must definitely exist from the basic 1-4-5 progression to
setting tempered (equal or not) scales to deciding which musical scaling one
wishes to use for a particular task.  If music had no rules, complsition would
be far more difficult and much of what was composed would "sound wrong" to the
listener until we became used to what would not fit our current constraints on
what is and is not music.  These rules are both the reason that music lessons
can be taught in any way but just teaching to specific songs and why just anyone
cannot pick up an instrument and produce what others perceive as "music" with no
training or practice.

Tom

These musical rules are also the reason that I know how to tune a piano and if
someone should want a different scaling or have a special purpose in how they
are using the instrument that I can change that tuning for special uses.

Tom


Tom Brennan, CCC-A/SLP, RHD
web page http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html
web master http://titan.sfasu.edu/~f_freemanfj/speechscience.html
web master http://titan.sfasu.edu/~f_freemanfj/fluency.html