[Smt-talk] general vs. absolute rule, was: RE: Leo Kraft

[Locke, Ralph]

This explanation of “the exception proves the rule” (“proves” = “tests”) may have some merit, but, if so, it leaves the meaning of “rule” intact (i.e., as meaning “100% valid”), in a way that I always thought the motto was meant to challenge.

The French version that I learned in grade school was “L’exception confirme la re`gle.”  There is no sense of testing (nor disproving) there.  The clear meaning is that an exceptional cases demonstrates, or sets in relief, the general (not absolute) validity of the main principle.  In other words, “the rule” is, at least in the French version of the motto, “the norm.”

Which is what Leo Kraft was trying to say in his follow-up sentences.

Ralph Locke

Ralph P. Locke
Professor of Musicology
Eastman School of Music
26 Gibbs St.
Rochester NY 14604-2599

rlocke at esm.rochester.edu<mailto:rlocke at esm.rochester.edu>
Tel.: 585-274-1455
Fax: 585-274-1088 (“for R. Locke”)



From: smt-talk-bounces at lists.societymusictheory.org [mailto:smt-talk-bounces at lists.societymusictheory.org] On Behalf Of Salley, Keith
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2014 3:50 PM
To: Richard Cohn
Cc: smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] Leo Kraft

Yes, I've found the Craft books and anthology useful, too-but I only discovered them within the last ten years. I  learned music theory through a historical/literature approach, and always wondered what the experience of an even more fully-integrated curriculum would have been like.
In pursuing my extra-musical interest in the study of languages and their quirkiness, I came across an explanation of the term "the exception proves the rule." It actually comes from a time when "proving" something was equivalent in meaning to "testing" it. Thus, the original meaning of the expression is quite different (just about opposite, I'd say) from what people ascribe to it these days. Just one more example of language influencing thought & culture...

On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 1:40 PM, Richard Cohn <richard.cohn at yale.edu<mailto:richard.cohn at yale.edu>> wrote:
I never knew Leo Kraft, but have always thought that his two-volume Gradus
textbook of 1976, combined with anthology, was a learned and masterfully
executed attempt to implement the so-called Comprehensive Musicianship
agenda of the 1970's. That agenda never took hold, for a variety of reasons
(that would be interesting to analyze from both music-pedagogical and
sociological standpoints). But I think that Kraft's books made the best
case for that pedagogical program that could be made, and I've always
admired them for that reason. They retain a place on my shelf and I expect
to continue to consult them as long as I teach music theory.

One of my favorite passages is a one-page discourse on "Music and the
Rules," cannily positioned at exactly the end of the first volume.  "The
statement 'the exception proves the rule' is nonsense. The exception
disproves the rule.....Composers do not follow rules. Nor do composers rely
on sheer inspiration. Their minds are filled with ways of putting notes
together, the norms of composition of their day. They use those norms in
the same way that we utilize the norms of today in speaking and writing
words..." This at a time when the cognitive revolution had yet to reach
music theory. Every undergraduate class that I teach eventually poses a
question that motivates me to refer yet a new set of students to this
passage.

--Rick Cohn

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--
Keith Salley
Associate Professor of Music
Coordinator of Music Theory
The Shenandoah Conservatory
Shenandoah University
Winchester, VA
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