Preface

These tours were designed to facilitate access to the site. We are evidently dealing with a complex and misunderstood subject which, despite our lack of understanding, continues to charm and fascinate us. What is Music really all about and why do we know so little about it? In an attempt to make a successful presentation, we have thought preferable to postpone the philosophical and scientific aspects until later and start with a simple presentation of Music's basic elements. The present edition of the tours was specifically designed for (and dedicated to) those who have had all the incoherences, inadequacies, and exceptions of academic theory inflicted upon them. It is assumed that you have written in treble and bass clefs, in different keys, and that you have some means (keyboard or otherwise) of performing and hearing what you write. We sincerely hope that this new approach will be useful. Following an introductory "page 1" which resumes instructions for the tours -

Each tour consists of a series of pages ("tour-pages") taken from the complete encyclopedic site.
     On almost each tour-page, you will find links (usually of an explanatory nature) to other site-pages.
          These links will be identified as either being to
               (a) a previously seen element which you might have overlooked or forgotten,
               (b) a supplementary element which you might find interesting and/or helpful, or
               (c) a more complex element to come that might motivate you
                    into continuing MusicNovatory.
          In general, and especially on the first time through a specific tour,
               you should not let yourself be distracted by these links.
                    Continue on the main path.
          You can always follow these links (or some of them) on some future visit,
               navigating between the site-pages with the browser's "previous" and "next" buttons.

To guide you through these tours, we have placed a navigation bar at the bottom of the screen
     to which you will refer for all your tour commands (from left to right) -
1. The Tour Selector displays the tour presently in function (Harmony 1)
               with a drop-down list of all the tours available.
2. You will only need the 3 central icons -
     the third icon (prev) presents the previous tour-page,
          even if you have wandered to other site-pages following links in the text.
     the fourth icon (play) presents the current tour-page,
          if you have wandered to other site-pages following links in the text.
     the fifth icon (next) presents the next tour-page,
          even if you have wandered to other site-pages following links in the text.
3. The Tour-page Selector (Tour Intro) displays the tour-page presently shown,
          with a drop-down list of all the tour-pages of the tour.

When a tour is completed, a loop is made back to "Tour Intro", from which one may
     either undertake the same tour again,
     or proceed to the next tour.

The first question was where to start? Although Rhythm is the most fundamental aspect of music, it remains completely unknown and neglected. It seemed preferable to start with Harmony and rectify the existing concepts to clearly establish our position before presenting the basic concepts of Rhythm.

The 12 General Tours

The choice of tours follows 2 simple indications -
     1. One starts in the upper-left corner,
     2. and then proceeds either
          (a) along the same line to the right or
          (b) to the beginning of the next line,
               all the way through the matrix.
These simple indications could produce a large number of results -
     After starting with Harmony 1, one could go either to Harmony 2, 3, 4, or to Rhythm 1,
     and at any point along any line, one could jump to the beginning of the next line.
However, it might be preferable to suggest, for these Guided Tours,
     a preferential, logical sequence
          that would correspond to the main types of interests that visitors might have -
               Harmony 1, Rhythm 1, Harmony 2, Melody 1,
                    to reach Melody as soon as possible, and then -
               Rhythm 2, Harmony 3, Rhythm 3, Melody 2, Harmony 4, Melody 3, Rhythm 4, Melody 4,
                    to gradually tackle all the more complex operations.
This is the order that will be shown with the "Tour Selector" on the left of the navigation bar.

Remember - to start any tour, click onin the navigation bar below.