SHOSYS ACADEMY 16 LESSON: Knowledge Of Universals: Principles And Gneralizations

SHOSYS ACADEMY 16 LESSON: Knowledge Of Universals: Principles And Gneralizations

Kelvin Sholar

1 Introduction To The Blog Series

This series of lessons and tests incorporates an easy music appreciation curriculum for adult beginners who are remote learning, or are self-taught. Lessons are posted on Mondays while Tests are posted on Saturdays. For more in depth and private guidance, I offer personal instruction by Zoom (Personal Meeting ID 8522954569) – for 1 dollar a minute. Time schedules range from a minimum of 30 minutes to a maximum of 60 minutes. Email me at [email protected] to set up personal instruction. I accept payments and cash gifts by Cash App ($KelvinSholar), Zelle ([email protected]) or Paypal (paypal.me/kelvinsholar).

2 Revisiting The Tree Of Knowledge

In Lesson 15, we learned about about methodology in music. In this Lesson, we will learn about the knowledge of Universals and Abstractions branch of knowledge (1.30); as well as, lean about Principles and Generalizations – which resides in the Universals branch (1.30) of the Tree of Knowledge (1.00), in the eighth leaf from the left (1.31). Benjamin Bloom describes the branch Knowledge Of Universals and Abstractions as “knowledge of the major ideas, schemes, and patterns by which phenomena and ideas are organized” (Bloom 75). Bloom describes knowledge of principles and generalizations as “knowledge of particular abstractions which summarize observations of phenomena” (Bloom 75).

2.1 Principles And Generalizations

A principle is a rule that governs behavior. A good example in music is what I call Alban Berg’s principle of nineteenth century music: “it is almost always homophonic; its themes are built symmetrically in units of two or four bars; its evolutions and developments are for the most part unthinkable without an abundance of repetition and sequences (generally mechanical)” (Berg 4). In this context, Berg’s principle is a rule that guides the behavior of a composer who wishes to synthesize nineteenth century music: or create new music in that style when given homophony, symmetry, repetition and sequences as necessary parts.

Sir James Jeans states a principle of sound representation in the following quote: “Further, as we know that all sounds, whether produced by nature or by art, can be transmitted by telephone, it follows that all sounds can be represented by such a curve -a cough or a sneeze, the voice of a friend, or an orchestra playing a symphony” (Jeans 13). The two curves that Jeans refers to are sound pressure wave curves which are translated into current intensity curves.

Finally, Roger Kamien states a principle of woodwinds: “All the woodwinds have little holes along their length that are opened and closed by the fingers or by pads controlled by a key mechanism” (Kamien 15).

A generalization is when something learned in the past can be used in the present – if the situations are similar enough. For example, if a musician learns that to play the piccolo, one must open and close holes with pads; then, that musician learns the flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon. In this case, what was previously learned about the mechanism of the piccolo can be used to study the mechanism of the flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon. This demonstrates that the musician used a principle of the piccolo, (“all piccolos have little holes along their length that are opened and closed by the fingers or by pads controlled by a key mechanism“), and similar principles of the flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon, to make it easier to master woodwind technique in general.

3 Bibliography

Berg, Alban. Why Is Schoenberg’s Music So Difficult To Understand?. Vienna: Musikblaetter des Anbruch, 1924

Bloom, B. S.; Engelhart, M. D.; Furst, E. J.; Hill, W. H.; Krathwohl, D. R. Taxonomy Of Educational Objectives: The Classification Of Educational Goals. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Company, 1956

Jeans, Sir. James. Science And Music, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1937

Kamien, Roger. Music: An Appreciation. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2018

Reich, Willi. The Life and Work of Alban Berg. New York: 1982