1.1 How music makes sense  (Page 3/7)

Similarly, the consistencies in a piece of music still leave plenty of room for the unexpected and the unusual. Composers often strive to see how far they can stretch their consistencies without breaking them. As an illustration, consider a classical theme and variations. The composer begins by presenting a theme. He or she then repeats the theme over and over, preserving certain aspects of the theme while varying others. Although each variation is unique, they share an underlying identity. In general, the variations tend to get farther and farther removed from the original. The later variations may be so disguised that the connection to the original is barely recognizable. Yet, like the rare no-hitter, no “rules” are broken: The marvel of these late variations is that the composer has managed to stretch the consistencies so far without actually violating them.

For instance, listen to the first half of the theme from Beethoven's. Piano Sonata in c-minor, Opus 111

From this austere first statement, listen to how far Beethoven stretches his theme in this variation.

Though the theme is still recognizable, its consistencies have been stretched : It is in a higher register. The texture is more complex, with a very rapidaccompaniment. The melody is more flowing, with new material filling in the theme's original resting points.While staying true to the theme's identity, this variation pulls the theme unexpectedly far fromits original starkness. Baseball manager Bill Veeck once said: "I try not to break the rules, but merely to test their elasticity." The same may be said of music's greatest composers.

Each listener's reaction to the Beethoven variation will be personal, the words and metaphors to describe it subjective. But, assubjective as these emotional responses may be, it is the stretching of the material that has called them forth. Thetransformations are readily accessible to the ear and can be objectively described: The variation is not lower than thetheme, it is higher; it is not more restful, it is more active and continuous. Appreciating music begins withrecognizing how much we are already hearing, and learning the ability to make conscious and articulate what we alreadyperceive.

Repetition and pattern recognition underlies how we understand almost everything that happens to us. Physics might be described as an effort to discover the repetition and consistencies that underlie the universe. One of the powerful modern theories proposes that the basic element of the universe is a “string." The vibrations of these infinitessimally small strings produces all the known particles and forces. To string theory, the universe is a composition on an enormous scale, performed by strings. Continuity and coherence are created through the repetition of basic laws. Miraculously, out of a few fundamental elements and laws, enormous complexity, constant variety and an unpredictable future are created.

We ourselves are pieces of music, our personal identities created through an intricate maze of repetition. Every time we eat and breathe, new molecules are absorbed by our bodies, replenishing our cells and changing our molecular structure. Yet, though countless millions of molecules are changing inside us every minute, we feel the continuity of our existence. This sense of self that we all feel so tangibly is really a dazzling performance: The new molecules maintain our identity by constantly repeating our basic structures.