96 



THE NATURE OF MUSIC 



perament there is in musical instruments like the 

 piano, but in music itself there is no temperament. A 

 piano is tempered for the purpose of meeting psycho- 

 logical not physical requirements; to temper a piano 

 is to shape physical means to psychological ends. 

 Tonality is a question of psychology, not of physics. 

 No two half steps, no two whole steps, no two intervals 

 of any denomination, have exactly the same length. 

 The cause lies in tonality, which is a web of harmonic 

 threads. In evolution thread upon thread has been 

 added to this web, so that at the present time the 

 meshes of its thousand threads are so fine and delicate 

 that they almost co^iceal the diatonic ^^ni^^-threads with 

 the result that some theorists have denied the existence 

 of such a thing as mode or key. Two simple exer- 

 cises will fix the two gr^/ii/^-threads which comprise the 

 seven diatonics, in the mind of the student. 



a) 



3 5 



b) 



ti re fa la sol mi do 



V I 



la fa re ti 



V 



do mi sol 

 I 



35. Progression and Resolution 



Steps from tone to tone are either progressions or 

 resolutions. The step from a cadence-tone to a re- 

 pose-tone is a resolution on the line of least resistance. 

 Every step not a resolution is a progression. Every 

 step being either the one or the other of the two the 

 distinction between the two is very important. Since 



