I open here a page that might in turn become the core of a revised "Music Theory" page. I thought however that it would be easier to leave aside for a while the matter of non-Western theory. Also, I may revise at the same time an existing French page on Théorie de la musique occidentale. This is not meant to be my page on this topic, everyone is eagerly invited to contribute. It is recommended also to have a look at User:Hucbald.SaintAmand/Music theory.
I make use of the < ref > system for biblioraphical references for two reasons: (1) I find this system more easy than any other, especially with the popups that show the notes whenever one "hovers" (passes over) their call, also because comments or quotations may be mixed with references; (2) I don't know how to implement other systems, such as the Harvard one which I find awful because it slows down the reading.
Music theory may be defined as the distanced observation of music.[1]. (For more details on this point, see Theory.) It focuses on musical facts and techniques, "on musical materials per se, in order to explain (and/or offer generalizations about) their various principles and processes".[2] As such, it differs from music philosophy, "the study of fundamental questions about the nature of music and our experience of it",[3] i.e. the ontology of music, or from aesthetics of music, more concerned with the beautiful in music and how we perceive it, and with value judgements about it.[4]
The present article concerns Western music theory, a decision taken to avoid problems with a broader definition and with questions raised by the possible existence of a prehistoric or oral theory. There is another article, Music Theory, which illustrates these problems (see also its talk page). That the present article is concerned with Western theory only in no way implies that this theory is more important than any other; some non-Western theories (e.g. Chinese) certainly predate the Occidental one, even in written form. However, because Occidental culture relied so much on writing, the corpus of Occidental theories probably is quantitatively much larger than any other, and much more easily accessible. But no conclusion can be drawn from this fact.
The same choice has been made in the article "Theory, theorists" in the New Grove, which states:
- The Western art music tradition is remarkable for the quantity and scope of its theory. The Bywantine, Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese and Indian traditions are also notable in possessing significant bodies of theoretical literature. Recently there has also been some theoretical treatment of jazz and other genres of popular music. This article, however, will deal exclusively with the Western art music tradition.[5]
- ^ Plato, Republic, 5.18–20 (4736–4776), quoted in Th. Christensen, "Introduction", The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory, CUP, 2008, p. 2.
- ^ David Carson Berry and Scherman van Solkema, "Theory", The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition, 2014, Online.
- ^ Andrew Kania, "The Philosophy of Music", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 Edition), URL = [1].
- ^ See for instance Eduard Hanslick, Vom Musikalisch-Schönen. Ein Beitrag zur Revision der Aesthetick der Tonkunst, Leipzig, Rudolph Weigel, 1854; The Beautiful in Music. A Contribution to the Revisal of Musical Aesthetics, Translated by Gustave Cohen, London, Novello, 1891.
- ^ Claude V. Palisca and Ian D. Bent. "Theory, theorists." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed October 24, 2015, [2]. See also Claude V. Palisca, "Theory, theorists", The New Grove, 1st edition, 1980, vol. 18, p. 741.