18 THE NATURE OF MUSIC 



is music? a question so often set aside as an insol- 

 uble mystery. This common view of theorists is 

 shown in three significant essentials the importance 

 of which is greater than at first appears. 



First: Admittedly or tacitly all premise that music 

 is what we hear it to be and thus transmute the 

 form of the ultimate question What is music .^ into 

 What do we hear music to be ? or briefly, What do 

 we hear.? That music is what we hear is not a 

 remarkable observation for what else could it he? 

 However, the question What do we hear.? really 

 means What do we all hear in common.? and this 

 question no one has as yet succeeded in answering. 



Second: At the outset all agree that what we hear 

 is consonance and dissonance. This again trans- 

 mutes the form of the ultimate question into What 

 is consonance and what is dissonance .? A scientifi- 

 cally verified answer to this question has not yet 

 appeared in the books, and there are those who 

 believe that this answer cannot be discovered in the 

 three sciences mentioned above, wherefore it should 

 be sought elsewhere.* 



Third: All acknowledge the existence of such a 

 thing as common music-feeling to which the appeal 

 is general whenever and wherever laws and rules 

 either fail to apply or cannot be found. This gen- 

 eral appeal to music-feeling is equivalent to a general 

 belief in its essential validity, a general belief that 

 in it the ultimate and whole truth of music lies 

 dormant, a general belief that the feeling is common 

 to all. If there is such a thing as common music- 

 feeling, then there are such things as common music- 



