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MUSIC
ETHNIC MUSIC
Homophony

The Musical March in Step

 


The Loss of the Musical-Artistic Power

 


The Deterioration of Originality in Music

 

 


The Historical Climax of Homophony

 

The Musical Misuse of Mental-Spiritual Energies


The Dual Musical Glorification of Mental Limitation

Homophony is analogous to soldiers marching in step; it has a strong, superficial effect on the outer ear and on the physiological aspects of hearing. So much beauty, however, is displayed in the integrated and harmonious movement of even a centipede, compared to such an artificial, forced march in step!

Historically, the concept of homophonic music arose from the inability to think and act from the innermost level of feeling in a simultaneously differentiating and integrating manner.
In our technological age, this concept of marching in step culminates in rock and pop music where everything moves in step: the melody, the rhythm, as well as all the accompaniment.

In homophony the melody is hampered so much by the mass of supporting voices, that no one believes its freedom – in spite of even the most skilled instrumental manipulations. Thus, in homophony, the melody resembles the grotesque Don Quixote who, clad in full armour, seriously fights the windmills. Amidst a mass of "supporting voices" the melody simply cannot unfold itself naturally and thus cannot develop any genuine originality.

Homophony in the widest sense means "the sounding march in step," and it therefore finds its climax in marches, in party dance music, and in the entertainment music of the masses, including the rock and beat music which, strange enough, aims at encouraging every listener to move, mentally and physically, to the same fixed pattern. Quotation

Thus, the mental-spiritual energies of the musicians and of the listeners do not flow to the head – as would seem appropriate – but rather down to inferior regions of physiology, thus letting the true human qualities languish.

However, homophony not only represents the marching in step of many people, but also the monotonous repetition of a single fixed pattern of step.





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© AAR EDITION INTERNATIONAL 1982

 

 

THE SYSTEMS
OF ORDER
IN MUSIC

Tonality

Differences
in Understanding
as Reflected by Language

The Beginnings of Musical History

"New Sound" Composers of the 20th Century and the Range of Intervals

Advancing
to the Transcendental
Play of Music

Musical Insight
into the Culture
of Peoples

Musical Relationships

The Musical Path
to Self-Knowlegde

Homophony

Polyphony

The Counterpoint

The Threefold Perfect
Form of the Harmony

Relations in Music

 

 

Ethnic Music                                                            continued 10