MUSICAL COMPOSITION

CHAPTER XDANGER SIGNALSIN the introductory chapter of this little treatise welaid stress on the fact that its main functicns mustnecessarily be to give hints as to what to avoid. Constructiveadvice in musical composition is practicallyconfined to technique, and natural invention andinspiration cannot be taught. Criticism is the onlymeans of regulating it, that of a superior in experiencewhen the composer is starting on his career, and ofhimself when he has felt his feet. The only basis ofsuch criticism is taste, and the ability which it gives ofjUdging between what is good and bad - in other words,what is beautiful and ugly in art. To make selfcriticismvaluable, the taste must be refined to itspurest point, but it must stop short of over-refinement,which, instead of giving polish to music when written,may, from breeding over-conscientiousness, prevent themusic being written at all. Some young composersthink too little, others too much. The one extreme isas dangerous as the other. Let the imagination run,and criticise it for yourself after it has had its fling. Ifyou cannot at once look on your creations with asufficiently impartial eye, put them away until youhave given them time to be partially forgotten. One165