Why do you listen to music? If you should put this question to a number of people, you might receive answers like these; “I like the beat of music”, “I look for attractive tunefulness”, “I am moved by the sound of choral singing”, “I listen to music for many reasons but I could not begin to describe them to you clearly”. Answers to this question would be many and diverse, yet almost no one would reply, Music means nothing to me.” To most of us, music means something; it evokes some response. We obtain some satisfaction in listening to music.
For many, the enjoyment of music does not remain at a standstill. We feel that we can get more satisfaction from the musical experience. We want to make closer contact with music in order to learn more of its nature; thus we can range more broadly and freely in the areas of musical style, form, and expression. This book explores ways of achieving these objectives. It deals, of course, with the techniques of music, but only in order to show how technique is directed toward expressive aims in music and toward the listener’s musical experience. In this way, we may get an idea of the composer’s intentions, for indeed, the composer uses every musical device for its power to communicate and for its contribution to the musical experience.
Although everyone hears music differently, there is a common ground from which all musical experiences grow. That source is sound itself. Sound is the raw material of music. It makes up the body and substance of all musical activity. It is the point of departure in the musical experience.
The kinds of sound that can be used for musical purposes are amazingly varied. Throughout the cultures of the world, East and West, a virtually limitless array of sounds has been employed in the service of musical expression. Listen to Oriental theatre music, then to an excerpt from a Wagner work; these two are worlds apart in their qualities of sound as well as in almost every other feature, yet each says something of importance to some listeners. Each can stir a listener and evoke a response in him. All music, whether it is the pulsation（振动）of primitive tribal drums or the complex coordination of voices and instruments in an opera, has this feature; it is based upon the power of sound to stir our senses and feelings.
Yet sound alone is not music. Something has to happen to the sound. It must move forward in time. Everything that takes place musically involves the movement of sound. If we hear a series of drumbeats, we receive an impression of movement from one stroke to the next. When sounds follow each other in a pattern of melody（旋律）, we receive an impression of movement from one tone to the next. All music moves; and because it moves, it is associated with a fundamental truth of existence and experience. We are stirred by impressions of movement because our very lives are constantly in movement. Breathing, the action of the pulse, growth, decay, the change of day and night, as well as the constant flow of physical action—these all testify to the fundamental role that movement plays in our lives. Music appeals to our desire and our need for movement.
1. The author indicates at the beginning of the passage that ______.
2. We can infer from the second paragraph that the book from which this excerpt is taken is mainly meant for ______.
3. The importance of movement in music is explained by comparing it to ______.
