Modern Philosophy of Classical Traditions: Theory, History, and Musicianship

Modernism and Post-Modernism created a strong dissociation with previous traditions and institutions, and while movements such as neo-classicism brought some previously discarded practices back into vogue we are still left with many that are either underdeveloped or discarded entirely by mainstream thought (outside of the ivory tower). These problems are negligable to anyone with formal university training since classical theory is still taught to a relatively high standard even if it's ultimately set aside for newer, shinier concepts later in the course work. The problem is that anyone not seeking a university degree is often left with resources that are overwhelming in their content, or piecemeal in their details. Commonly accessible texts that are concise, accurate, and complete are difficult, if not impossible to find.

Breadth vs Depth

Most resources focus (redundantly) on the same shallow breadth of details as the next. They often leave more in depth topics either to rote memorization of unintuitive charts, or vague references to other materials to which the reader may or may not have access. They never cover a topic with enough depth that the reader could develop some intuition, and eventually be able to reason through problems without having to look up the answer elsewhere. However, the complication is that with depth comes weeds, and a major hazard is having more weeds than flowers. This is often the case with (older) primary sources, and is generally the reason they're used to produce secondary sources that are more digestible to the casual reader rather than themselves being published.

Solution

The goal here is to boil down hundreds of years of theory and tradition, and try to restructure it for the post-modern mindset. A significant amount of music history is made up of numerous pendulums where attitudes and practices move in and out of common use. It's sufficient in this context to simply acknowledge that the practice existed, give a description, and then move on to the next thing without trying to be persuasive about why the practice is good or not.

On that note, it's also worth mentioning that it's no longer sufficient to point to any historical precedent as a sufficient truth, or to simply declare something as being 'self evident'. Not to mention a growing anti-western sentiment that will discard classical theory purely on the basis of its origin.

To reach the goal of presenting an updated music theory text there has to be considerations and rules about how topics will be approached to avoid creating a bloated, unrelatable, and unintelligible mess. Those mainly being,

⦁ concise descriptions over padded explanations;

⦁ observable, logical facts over purely historical precedent; and

⦁ practice driven theory over theory driven practice.

Relating to Musicianship

Musicianship is one of those terms that is frequently used half correctly in regards to the physical act of performance. While a performance may, on the one hand, be impressive it can simultaneously, on the other, be naive. All the notes may be played accurately and in time, but lack expressive weight and nuance.

One of my professors in university used to say, "an analysis is a performance, and a performance is an analysis." Regardless of any initial reaction to that quote the implication is significant. While you can treat a piece of sheet music at face value like a kind of literal map; doing so is a destination without an adventure. However, if that performance is paired with an understanding of how a piece of music was written, and the traditions of its origin; suddenly the performance can include more informed and nuanced details such as temporal deviations, ornamentation, and inflection. The goal of musicianship isn't to just play songs, but to perform the music.

Now... let's get into the meat of this thing.