INTRODUCING FIRST PRINCIPLES 27 



harmonic idea of music is therefore a complex of har- 

 monic percepts, each of which is either an original 

 harmonic relation, or has been derived from an origi- 

 nal relation. How derived? Through, the evolu- 

 tionary principle of potential harmony in cooperation 

 with the efficient accent, the principle of harmonic 

 genesis, roughly as follows: Each toners original rela- 

 tion is duplicated on other tones. For example: the 

 tone known as the Tonic (also called keynote) first 

 arose as a root and eventually appeared as third, 

 fifth, seventh and ninth, thus duplicating the origi- 

 nal relations of other tones. Like duplications were 

 in time effected on other original tones which had 

 their genesis in other relations. We shall see that 

 these duplications are responsible for the genesis of 

 new tones and new harmonic relations thus opening 

 the way to new duplications, and we shall see that the 

 expansion of harmonic relations and of the tone-sys- 

 tem is the direct product of this psychological process, 

 in short, that harmonic relation and our tone-system 

 are inseparably linked in their development as cause 

 and consequence. But how did the seven original 

 tones arise ? How did the first consonance and first 

 dissonance arise .^ Unless these origins can be ex- 

 plained the principle of potential harmony has no 

 material to develop, no valid basis to rest on, is 

 but an empty phrase. The above questions will be 

 answered in the two subsequent chapters. 



18. Basis of Verification 



A brief summary of the position outlined in the 

 preceding paragraphs will lead the way to a simple 



