“The development of such a comprehensive view has long been a need, for it has become clearer and clearer as we have become familiar and involved with a constantly widening horizon of different musical aims and practices, that the old “common practice” theories of harmony and counterpoint could no longer be overhauled or extended, but had by necessity to be replaced by a way of description and analysis that treated the “common practice” of Western music from the late seventeenth to the end of the nineteenth centuries as only one instance of a much wider musical method and practice that could be applied to all of Western music, from its origins to the present, as well as to music of other cultures.” (Cogan and Escot, 1976).

The excerpt, from “Sonic Design: The Nature of Sound and Music” written by Robert Cogan and Pozzi Escot, is a very long sentence, from the forward of the book. The book’s aim is to dissect and establish a new perspective on the simple but limitless nature of music.

Here is a paraphrased example of the above quote:

As the nature and perspectives surrounding music and continue to grow, it is imperative that the explanations and structures behind those ideas are expanded as well. (Cogan and Escot, 1976).

Bibliography

Cogan, R. and Escot, P. (1984) Sonic design: The nature of sound and music. Publication Contact International.