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Ethnic Music

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ETHNIC MUSIC

The Science of Music

The Scope of the
Science of Music

The Inner Breath of Music

The Function of the
Inner Breath in Music

The Scientific Aspect
in Music

The Perfect Musical
Description

The Twofold System
of Music Analysis
of the Composer

The Aspect of
Humanities in Music

The True Field of
Science in Music

The Sociology of Music

The Ecology of Music

The Physics of Music

The Physiology of Music

The Economy of Music

Music Critique

Dance in Music

 

Peter Hübner
Founder of the
Micro Music Laboratories

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  The Science of Music
       
 
The Economy of Music


   
 
The econ­omy of mu­sic is con­cerned with the eco­nomi­cal ap­pli­ca­tion of the mu­si­cal pa­rame­ters.
Here the fol­low­ing prin­ci­ple ap­plies: what­ever can be ex­pres­sed with a motif, does not re­quire a melody or even a se­quence, and what can be ex­pres­sed with a tone should not be ex­pres­sed with a motif.

 
The Economical Application of the Musical Parameters
 
 
The pre­cisely pro­por­tioned ap­pli­ca­tion of the mu­si­cal ele­ments is the de­ci­sive fac­tor for the clar­ity of the mu­si­cal state­ment.

 
The Clarity of the Musical Statement
 
 
Just as the high­est con­cen­tra­tion of carbon cre­ates the clar­ity of the dia­mond, while the lack of den­sity in carbon causes the opaque blackness of coal, like­wise the high con­cen­tra­tion of the mu­si­cal ele­ments in the form of mu­si­cal sim­plic­ity makes the com­po­si­tion “trans­par­ent”: makes it per­fect mu­sic.

 
Concentrating the Musical Elements
 
 
The im­por­tance of pro­por­tioning the pa­rame­ters of space and time has been pre­vi­ously de­scribed, and the same im­por­tance ap­plies to the pro­por­tioning of all the other pa­rame­ters – where “pro­por­tioning” does not mean equal­ity or equali­za­tion, as for ex­ample in twelve-tone-mu­sic.

 
Proportioning the Musical Parameters
 
 
Just as the head has a di­men­sion of tasks dif­fer­ent from that of the foot, in the same way the motif and the sound be­long to dif­fer­ent di­men­sions, and the se­quence too is of quite a dif­fer­ent or­der of magnitude than the motif.

 
Orders of Magnitude in Music
 
 
The ef­fect of pro­por­tioning in such a way, that all com­po­nents are of equal im­por­tance, is dem­on­strated by twelve-tone-mu­sic and its fur­ther de­vel­op­ment, the serial com­pos­ing tech­nique.

 
Equating the Parameters in Twelve-Tone Music
 
 
And what hap­pens when, for ex­ample, the foot gains a greater im­por­tance in mu­sic than the head, and even be­gins to rule over the head, is dem­on­strated by the en­tire en­ter­tain­ment mu­sic.

 
The Reversal of the Natural Musical Order
 
 
The econ­omy of mu­sic not only com­prises the en­tire im­por­tant field of the proper pro­por­tioning of the sound, motif, melody, se­quence, and har­mony, but also the pro­por­tioning of the mo­tifs amongst each other, the tonalities amongst each other, the se­quences amongst each other – and even the tones amongst each other.

 
The Total Range of the Economy of Music
 
 
In ad­di­tion, the econ­omy of mu­sic also con­cerns the in­vest­ment of en­ergy by the lis­tener dur­ing the hear­ing proc­ess.
If the lis­tener, for ex­ample, has to resist dis­so­nances, the en­tire con­cert for him is un­eco­nom­ical, and men­tally-spiri­tu­ally he has made a “bad deal.” And only if, af­ter lis­ten­ing to mu­sic, he is happy, strength­ened and full of en­ergy, will he have made a “good deal” men­tally-spiri­tu­ally.

 
The Energy Investment of the Listener During the Hearing Process
 
 
Whether the lis­tener “wins” or “loses” while lis­ten­ing to mu­sic, de­pends on the natu­ral or­gani­za­tion of the com­po­si­tional pa­rame­ters in the mu­si­cal work – on the in­te­gra­tion of the com­po­si­tion, and on the per­sua­sive power of the piece of mu­sic: it de­pends on the en­tire econ­omy of mu­sic it­self.

 
Economy of Listening to Music
 
 
“Where lan­guage ends, mu­sic be­gins.”

E.T.A. Hoffmann


   
     
     
                                 
     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                     
                                     
  With kind permission of AAR EDITION INTERNATIONAL
© 1998 –  MICRO MUSIC LABORATORIES



 
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