Let Us Bring Music into Our Homes

The Woman's Voice is careful to offer its readers everything useful. It tries, in particular, to direct attention toward the fine arts, whose nature it is to refine the soul. It has succeeded so far in choosing for them the finest poetry, in presenting to them, one after another, talks on 'the masterpieces dearest to artists and lovers of art,' and in recounting for them glimpses of 'the great figures of song among the Arabs.'

And The Woman's Voice is pleased to begin with this issue a series of talks on 'music,' through the geniuses of the two worlds, written especially for it by Mr. Raja Khouli. Mr. Raja Khouli is one of our cultivated young men who possess in music a sound experience, a conscious understanding, and a deep perception.

It is very difficult, if not impossible, to find a people among the peoples of the earth entirely devoid of music. Yet the kind of music, and the degree of its refinement, differ with nations and with ages. We, as a nation, love music, and we have of it both what is native and what is imported from abroad; we lack only some attention and enthusiasm for music to enter our homes and become a part of us and of our culture. Among the signs of our love is the great attendance at concerts of music and song, and the number of those who flock to the cinema houses to see musical films, whether 'Eastern' or 'Western.' There is a prevailing notion that we, 'as Easterners,' incline to 'rapture,' of which music is among the first causes. If you asked a man whether he loves 'music,' he would answer with a certain sharpness and emphasis, for in his eyes this is a matter beyond dispute, and the question in itself contains something of belittlement and mockery. But if you asked him to specify the kind of music he prefers, and the reasons for his preference, you would rarely obtain a clear, convincing answer; and the reason is that it is rare to find anyone who has set aside time to study music or to learn anything about it.

Many hold that total ignorance of everything connected with music in no way conflicts with taking delight in it. In their view, music addresses 'feeling,' not 'thought,' and it is enough for a man to have sound hearing to understand all that a given piece of music contains. No doubt it is the fact that this notion contains some truth that makes it the more dangerous. In music there is an emotional side, as there are sensuous and logical sides, and these last appear only after study. The danger is that we content ourselves with feeling and refuse the study and understanding that would enable us to obtain from music a pleasure whose existence we did not feel before. Every great piece of music addresses its hearer according to his readiness and his capacity for understanding. One man finds in it nothing but time wasted on useless sounds; another finds in it only a stimulus to his feeling; while a third sees in it a letter from an intimate friend, which he reads and understands in full. At each stage the hearer's pleasure increases, until it is complete when that letter carries him to the bounds of the infinite, to contemplate for a few moments what lies beyond it.

The purpose of writing these lines is only to arouse the interest of some who have never studied anything about music, so that they may seek to obtain the knowledge that will make them find in music new sources of a noble pleasure that elevates the soul. Here it must be said that going deep into study is not necessary for those who do not intend to make music a profession — such as the composing of melodies or the mastery of playing some instrument. And if there are those who are content with the kinds of music they prefer and want nothing more, it is not for us to try to persuade them to change their minds. But there are those who would like to increase their knowledge, yet believe that this requires a special gift and a great effort which the press of their affairs does not allow them. To these we say that music, if treated like literature, for example, is no harder than any other subject, and its full understanding requires no more effort than any other language. Once a man possesses some of its first principles, they grow and increase of themselves through experience. It is, no doubt, hard for a man to become a composer or a performer of renown; but that is not what we aim at. The understanding of poetry is not for poets alone, and so it is with the understanding of music or of any other art. Everyone of sound hearing can increase his knowledge and appreciation of music to whatever degree he chooses. Here follow some suggestions for whoever wishes to increase his knowledge.

Learn the 'alphabet' of music (that is, the way it is written) and the technical terms that guide one to the modes of expression; then the fundamental differences between 'harmony' and 'counterpoint,' which stand to music as morphology and grammar stand to language; and, besides this, the construction of the familiar forms, vocal and instrumental, such as the song, the 'sonata,' the 'symphony,' and others. These you will find in dictionaries and in musical studies, most of them

in foreign languages. It also helps greatly to know the different musical instruments and to be able to tell them apart merely by hearing their sound. Among the things most useful to the listener is the ability to read music — by which is meant not the ability to sing it or play it, but to read it silently, as one of us reads a novel; and this is no difficult matter if the student begins with simple, familiar melodies and then progresses to what is more complex. We will not say that reading music, or knowing anything about it, does away with listening and experience, which remain the best road to delight and appreciation; but let each of us imagine how near he can draw to the great pieces and their composers once he possesses the means of reaching them, as in literature and poetry.

What we have said applies above all to instrumental music, for in vocal music the words are bound to have their effect. True, the composer's aim in both cases is to arrive at an essential beauty; but when words direct him, he tries to make the melodies agree with the meaning and express it as far as possible. Songs inherit from their two parents, the poet and the musician, and in them the merits of both appear. Yet this statement, for all the truth in it, is very limited. In the greatest songs — by which judgment must be made — we find that what works upon us is not the words themselves but the circumstance that stirred the composer's genius. Words are to music what the scene is to the painter, who cares less about copying the details of the scene than about expressing the feeling that came over him in that situation. Every attempt to deduce the words of a song from merely hearing its melodies is doomed to fail, because music by its nature cannot mirror poetic words or natural scenes. The impulse to compose it is an inner feeling, and this may arise from many causes. Below we cast a quick glance at music in the Middle Ages.

Before the Middle Ages, music was for the most part vocal, confined to hymns and religious prayers. The ancients had no variety of voices: all the members of the choir sang a single melody. Matters remained so until the eleventh century after Christ, when the principles of blending different melodies and voices into a unified consonance and beauty were discovered. Some of those who have written on the history of music think that its development in Europe was built upon what the ancient Greeks and Hebrews left behind; but there is nothing in the history of music to justify this belief, for neither the Greeks nor the Hebrews had any idea of 'harmony.' On this occasion it is fitting to correct a mistaken notion held by a great number of people. Many think that the Jews have rendered great service to music, the reason being the abundance of Jewish names among famous performers. But the truth is that there are no Jews among the great composers; for composition demands great effort and a devotion to art detached from material gain, whereas fame in performance demands only some skill and practice, and drags behind it vast material profits. There is no doubt that the Arabs were the first to concern themselves with the principles of constructing the musical scales (Gammes Scales) which made possible all the development that followed. Whoever wishes to know the details of this should consult the learned Lebanese musician, Professor Wadih Sabra, for his studies of this fascinating subject. The Europeans took the idea of blending melodies and combining voices (Counterpoint & Harmony) from the Arabs and built upon it the principles of the two sciences just named; and their music began to grow and to produce, while among the Arabs it remained as it was. 'Counterpoint' is the science of melodies that agree with one another in a horizontal direction, while 'harmony' is the principles of combining voices vertically.

These two sciences are among the distinctions peculiar to music; there is nothing like them in the other arts. They help music to bind together the parts of a single piece and to make it consonant. As for the development of music and its flowering in Europe, it came at the hands of geniuses among the composers, some of whom we shall mention in coming issues.