“From a distance, the forms, techniques, and building materials of music may seem to be cumulative, like a technological tradition. But music is not a branch of technology, though it is affected by technological developments. It is more like philosophy, which may also give a superficial impression of being evolutionary. Each apparently new idea in music, like a new idea in philosophy, does not really grow out of previously expressed ideas, though it may well be limited by them. It is a new emphasis which grows out of a composer’s experience of his environment, a realization of certain aspects of the experiences common to all human beings which seem to him to be particularly relevant in the light of contemporary events and personal experiences.”
[BLACKING, John: How Musical Is Man]
Discuss.
cosmic lithium :) 