aste and
delicacy of perception no learned dissertation on music could afford. At
the same time, an acquaintance with the materials and elements of which
the art is composed and with the laws that govern them, is essential to
enable even one who has heard much to gain the complete enjoyment that
comes from understanding. Confident as we are that Prometheus captured
his fire from Heaven, we ought to learn something of its attributes
before we accept it at his hands, that we may be able to distinguish a
true spark of the divine flame from a phosphorescent will-o'-the-wisp.

The idea so largely accepted that music is an unfathomable mystery, like
all half truths has wrought much mischief, and has greatly retarded
musical progress in social life. Behind the Divine Art, as behind
Religion, lies the inscrutable mystery of Life, and in both there is a
Holy of Holies only the consecrated may enter. Before the portals of
this are reached there is a broad, fertile field for intellectual
activity that all may work to advantage, preparing the way to the inner
sanctuary.

The musician is continually confronted with fresh evidence of the
popular ignorance, even among students of music, in regard to the
outward form and inner grace of what is conceded to be the most popular
of all arts. In a roomful of professed music lovers a definition of
counterpoint was recently called for, and no one present could give an
intelligent answer. This led to a discussion of musical questions which
resulted in the disclosure that not one of the company could define
melody, harmony or rhythm, or had the slightest conception of the
meaning of the simplest component parts of the art in whose service they
were making plentiful sacrifices. Some knowledge of these things is
absolutely imperative, not alone to the student, but to one as well who
would listen intelligently to music.

Sound and motion constitute the essence of music. Its raw materials are
an infinitely rich mass of musical sounds that bear within themselves
the possibility of being molded into form. By the musical builders of
the past they have been carefully considered, mathematically
calculated, and have finally resolved themselves into a recognized
scale, composed of tones and half tones. These are the composer's
plastic resources. He shapes them precisely as the sculptor fashions the
pliable clay with which he strives to bring his ideal to realization.

All sounds are the result of atmo