<html><div><font face="Verdana" size="2">Try "The Sense of Music" by Viktor Zuckerkandl, published by Princeton Univ. Press. This was used as the text for the music course at St. John's College in <font size="2">Maryland. Though in some respects dated<font size="2"> its <font size="2">distilled descriptions of some <font size="2">musical elements are not only accurate<font size="2"> but also dynamic.<br><br><font size="2">I liken it to Ezra Pound<font size="2">'s "ABC of Reading." <br><br><font size="2">Nancy Garniez</font></font></font> </font></font></font></font></font></font> <br></div>
http://nancygarniez.blogspot.com
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www.tonalrefraction.net<div><font color="#0000ff" face="Verdana" size="2"></font> </div>
<blockquote style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><font face="Tahoma" size="2">-----Original Message-----<br><b>From:</b> Chris Bonds [mailto:chbonds1@willy.wsc.edu]<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, February 21, 2013 10:02 PM<br><b>To:</b> smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Smt-talk] whether to laugh or cry?<br><br></font>
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On 2/21/2013 6:39 PM, Richard Cohn wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:CAMx_96G-MLnNCymPE12WpcG+sK+cQ=khWV2rhM475LX9PfaWjw@mail.gmail.com" type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">David Byrne's best-selling book "How Music
Works", on the front-table in many book-stores, has a
quasi-learned discourse, with dutiful refs. to Pythagoras etc.,
on "diachronic scales."
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<div>My best guess: </div>
<div>^1 sounds in the 14th century; </div>
<div>^2 sounds in the 15th century</div>
<div>.....the 20th century has the leading tone</div>
<div>and here we are now on the tonic. Finally.</div>
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<div>Which makes them maximally even, as they should be.</div>
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If someone knows of an intelligently-written book on "how music
works" that the lay person can learn from, and yet will not be an
embarrassment to the professional, let me know!<br>
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Christopher Bonds<br>
Wayne State College, Emeritus<br>
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