MUSICAL COMPOSITION

DANGER SIGNALS 189mixing of them and their treatment and grouping oftone-values gives them their cachet. Efforts afterpremature originality will always bring mannerism intheir train, and no quality in music is so ephemeral, 80annoying and so irritating. It turns a philosopherinto a faddist, a poet into a rhyme-jingler. A beginnermust not think about originality. If he has it in hisnature, it will come out as surely as the world goesround the sun. It must not be forced, or it will beinsincere. Moreover, the quality of originality is sosubtle and often so gradual in its process of evolutionthat a future generation will be in a better position tojudge of its existence than a contemporary one. Everyman is different from his fellows in feature, in physiqueand in temperament. Ergo, everyone is to some extentoriginal. It is only a question of degree. The onlytrue originality is that of a man who stands midwaybetween the average and the abnormal. Whoever hasthis quality will emerge without effort from the ranksof the average of his fellows, but if he is made selfconsciousin the process, he will tend to enter the ranksof the abnormal. Express yourself naturally, let yourimagination run, do not let yourself be worried byreminiscence hunters, say what you want to say andwhat you feel you must say to the best of your ability,and (except in your workmanship and technical study)with the least possible effort. You cannot conceal acommonplace idea by a contortion of forced originality.If you are going to give a new message to the world,you will do so without being conscious of it yourself.If you set out to do it consciously, you will fail becauseyou will be trying to pose; and the man who poses isinsincere. The two most vital qualities for an artist