MUSICAL COMPOSITION

INTRODUCTORY 3and should be kept wholly distinct from questions oftaste. A composer who has full knowledge of histechnique, and can play about with a canon or fugue,has got to a point where he can utilise his knowledgeto make experiments. A man who knows he is writingconsecutive fifths can write them if he is convinced oftheir appropriateness, and can convince the hearer oftheir beauty, without being pulled up by the oldformula of infringement of rule; for in compositionper se there is no rule save that of beauty, and nostandard save that of taste. It is only the composerwho knows the rules of the game, and the why andwherefore of those rules, who can understand when andhow to break them.On the other hand, teachers often overlook thenatural tendency of a young and ardent inventive brainto chafe under advice which at the moment seemsmerely formal, irksome and dry. This impatience oftemperament cannot be curbed merely by dogmaticinsistence upon the rules themselves; it can only bemoulded and brought into line by the sympatheticmethod of explaining why these rules were laid downand by clearly showing their origin. In counterpoint,'0for example, a beginner who is conversant with thedevelopments of modem music cannot be expectedto understand a rule which "forbids" a skip fromto?Q - 'in a part which professes to bea melody written to fit another melody. But when it isexplained to him that this rule was made in the earlytimes for music written for the unaccompanied humanvoice, an instrument which possesses no mechanical