PREFACE

     Harry   Partch,  that   quintessentially  American   individualist 
     composer, said that true education, as far as he was concerned, is 
     a matter  chiefly compounded of investigation,  investigation, and 
     investigation.  That  is the  underlying premise  of MUS  1/Music: 
     Technique and Imagination.

     I  assume that  we  are here  to learn  something  that we  didn't 
     previously know,  and that we are  here to question  and challenge 
     anything and everything  that we think we  know.  The etymological 
     roots of  the word "education"  mean "to  draw out," or  "to bring 
     out." The methods used in this course, and the approaches taken to 
     learning, are intended  to be useful throughout one's  life in the 
     continual process  of bringing  out of  one's inner  self insights 
     which range beyond the acquisition of  facts.  We use the study of 
     music  as a  means to  acquire critical  thinking skills,  develop 
     imagination, and to become incurably curious, inveterate question-
     ers, seekers after knowledge and wisdom.

          A recurring theme in MUS 1 is the notion that creativity
          can be and needs to be fostered and nurtured.  Our goals
          in this regard are to apply the insights provided for us
          in this catalogue of the traits of creativity:

     Creativity includes the ability to:
          *WONDER, BE CURIOUS
          *BE OPEN TO NEW EXPERIENCE, SEE THE FAMILIAR FROM AN UNFAMILIAR
               POINT OF VIEW
          *CONFRONT COMPLEXITY AND AMBIGUITY WITH INTEREST
          *TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ACCIDENTAL EVENTS IN ORDER TO MAKE DESIRABLE
               BUT UNSOUGHT DISCOVERIES (CALLED SERENDIPITY)
          *MAKE ONE THING OUT OF ANOTHER BY SHIFTING ITS FUNCTIONS
          *GENERALIZE IN ORDER TO SEE UNIVERSAL APPLICATIONS OF IDEAS
          *SYNTHESIZE AND INTEGRATE, FIND ORDER IN DISORDER
          *BE INTENSELY CONSIOUS YET IN TOUCH WITH UNCONSCIOUS SOURCES
          *VISUALIZE OR IMAGINE NEW POSSIBILITIES
          *BE ANALYTICAL AND CRITICAL
          *KNOW ONESELF, AND HAVE THE COURAGE TO BE ONESELF IN THE FACE
               OF OPPOSITION
          *BE PERSISTENT, WORK HARD FOR LONG PERIODS, IN PURSUIT OF A
               GOAL, WITHOUT GUARANTEED RESULTS
                    (from Art Creates Us Creates Art, Duane Preble,
                    Canfield Press, San Francisco, 1976, p.10)

     This text itself is an attempt  to apply some of these principles. 
     It  is most  certainly an  experiment.  While  there are  numerous 
     music  theory  programs  on  the market,  and  very  useful  ones, 
     especially for  computers capable of multi-voice  and multitimbral 
     effects, I  know of no text  like this one.  Its  incorporation of 
     audible examples, interactive exercises and experimental "labora-
     tories" excites me, even given the definite limitations of present 
     sound and memory capabilities.  At least  we are able to hear some 
     things, which  is more than the  usual text provides.  And  in the 
     not distant future, with further  advance of digital recording and 
     storage  techniques, we  will be  able  to have  texts with  aural 
     examples sounding like live orchestral concerts and providing full-
     scale experimental and compositional control of sound.

     Use this text  as a tool.  To  learn about music.  To  learn about 
     learning itself.  And take to heart this message, from the closing 
     lines of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets:

                    We shall not cease from exploration
                    And the end of all our exploring
                    Will be to arrive where we started
                    And know the place for the first time.