<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">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 <i>general</i> (not absolute) validity of the main principle. In other words, “the rule” is, at least in the French version of the motto, “the norm.”
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Which is what Leo Kraft was trying to say in his follow-up sentences.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Ralph Locke<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Ralph P. Locke<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Professor of Musicology<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Eastman School of Music<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">26 Gibbs St.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Rochester NY 14604-2599<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><a href="mailto:rlocke@esm.rochester.edu"><span style="color:blue">rlocke@esm.rochester.edu</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Tel.: 585-274-1455<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Fax: 585-274-1088 (“for R. Locke”)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> smt-talk-bounces@lists.societymusictheory.org [mailto:smt-talk-bounces@lists.societymusictheory.org]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Salley, Keith<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, May 01, 2014 3:50 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Richard Cohn<br>
<b>Cc:</b> smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Smt-talk] Leo Kraft<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">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.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal">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...<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 1:40 PM, Richard Cohn <<a href="mailto:richard.cohn@yale.edu" target="_blank">richard.cohn@yale.edu</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#500050">I never knew Leo Kraft, but have always thought that his two-volume Gradus<br>
textbook of 1976, combined with anthology, was a learned and masterfully<br>
executed attempt to implement the so-called Comprehensive Musicianship<br>
agenda of the 1970's. That agenda never took hold, for a variety of reasons<br>
(that would be interesting to analyze from both music-pedagogical and<br>
sociological standpoints). But I think that Kraft's books made the best<br>
case for that pedagogical program that could be made, and I've always<br>
admired them for that reason. They retain a place on my shelf and I expect<br>
to continue to consult them as long as I teach music theory.<br>
<br>
One of my favorite passages is a one-page discourse on "Music and the<br>
Rules," cannily positioned at exactly the end of the first volume. "The<br>
statement 'the exception proves the rule' is nonsense. The exception<br>
disproves the rule.....Composers do not follow rules. Nor do composers rely<br>
on sheer inspiration. Their minds are filled with ways of putting notes<br>
together, the norms of composition of their day. They use those norms in<br>
the same way that we utilize the norms of today in speaking and writing<br>
words..." This at a time when the cognitive revolution had yet to reach<br>
music theory. Every undergraduate class that I teach eventually poses a<br>
question that motivates me to refer yet a new set of students to this<br>
passage.<br>
<br>
--Rick Cohn</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Smt-talk mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org">Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org</a><br>
<a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v1/url?u=http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org&k=p4Ly7qpEBiYPBVenR9G2iQ%3D%3D%0A&r=6AMhmL1D%2FLPyha0BLDYWlCPkXCmZ017FYiBSlmyWhLE%3D%0A&m=LiHHIGQCvWhmEAeWYTcJhMuGTOU5bjzi4uPsNJrQKWM%3D%0A&s=4e0530661ad3dc8447bb3ee877034ef648c32cf4a872d5c09610a841f1bac03d" target="_blank">http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org[lists.societymusictheory.org]</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
<br clear="all">
<br>
-- <br>
Keith Salley<br>
Associate Professor of Music<br>
Coordinator of Music Theory<br>
The Shenandoah Conservatory<br>
Shenandoah University<br>
Winchester, VA<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>