Musicology and Performance: The Common Ground 

Dina Koston 

The way in which one views the relationship between musicology and per-
formance would, I think, be determined by one's idea of what an education 
in music should be. And I think that few musicians find themselves comfort-
able with their basic education. While it is true that all schooling, and 
especially professional schooling, is now being questioned profoundly, I 
believe, nonetheless, that serious problems of education in music in this 
country long antedate the current upheaval. 

Obviously, one cannot be well versed in all aspects of music, particularly 
since musicologists have made available such a wealth of music, while travel 
and recordings have introduced music of other cultures. Nevertheless, there 
must be some qualities common to all musicians. Too often musicology 
becomes words without music, and performance, sound without meaning. 
Hearing-how well the ear perceives-is the beginning. The acuity of 
perception of the qualities or properties of sound at any given moment and 
that same acuity of perception of the relationships of successive sounds are 
fundamental. There are so many different emphases that may be given to an 
organization of sounds that it is difficult to develop one's perceptions 
sufficiently to comprehend all of the music known to us. Moreover, each 
person has certain proclivities or ways of hearing within the world of sound. 
But the scope of that hearing, along with the techniques of translating those 
perceptions into action, is what makes a professional musician. The latter is 
distinguished from the amateur with a well-developed ear by the conscious-
ness of that hearing, by the ability to utilize it in ways beyond superficial 
imitation. Furthermore, the professional musician must be able to experience 
these highly developed perceptions directly from the printed score: the score 
must be the sound. 

Perhaps, with the amount and extent of music presently available, one 
could begin the study of theory in a different way. One might simply consider 
the properties of sound that can be organized, namely, length, range, timbre, 
and amplitude, and begin exercises in that primitive but more abstract way, 
thereby arriving at the traditional studies as special cases with particular 
emphases. This kind of beginning could facilitate hearing which aspects of 
sound were predominant at a given time and which were simply functions of 
other aspects. And, hopefully, one would experience both greater freedom 
and greater control over the use of these elements of sound. 

What does differentiate one musical specialist from another? Given that 
all musicians have this highly developed, useful ear (or, more properly, 
"inner ear"), one might say that they are differentiated in great measure by 
the nonmusical aspects of their work. A musician becomes a performer by the 

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addition of considerable athletic and dramatic prowess; a historian, by 
skills in research, writing, languages, and possibly a gift for gossip; an 
aesthetician, by knowledge of philosophy and psychology. The composer and 
the theoretician are perhaps more completely involved purely in the organiza-
tion of sound. The theoretician has the duty and the luxury of scrutinizing 
many techniques of composition. The composer, too, needs to investigate 
these but must then ignore many areas in order to develop fully his or her 
ideas and gifts. Composing requires constant choice, and, therefore, constant 
relinquishment. 

I think that this listing of the nonmusical requirements of various musical 
specialties recalls the deficiencies mentioned earlier: many musical specialists 
concentrate on nonmusical aspects of their work to such an extent that it 
becomes uninteresting, misleading, or without center. This is not to diminish 
a real problem: the demands of each specialty are so great at present that it is 
difficult to achieve proportion. Yet, I think that this is a period desperately 
in need of just that sense of proportion. 

And specialties change. For example, in recent years we have seen the 
reentry of physical scientists and mathematicians into the field of music. This 
fact has been responsible for both extraordinarily interesting developments 
and lamentably nonmusical conclusions. If one is connected with the world 
of sound in a direct way, then the changes can be a source of stimulation 
rather than of despair. 

My own schooling in music was in many ways typical for an instru-
mentalist. It began very early with "ear-training" and piano lessons. 
Traditional theory studies were started in early childhood and were, perhaps, 
more extensive than is usual. Let me hasten to add, lest it seem that I am 
promoting my own kind of schooling, that it has nonetheless been my 
deficiencies in music theory which have proven the most troublesome. There 
was a severe lack of rhythmic studies and a superabundance of traditional 
harmony (without real attention to the rhythm of harmonic change). There 
were years of counterpoint without careful attention to certain aspects of 
single-line construction, the kind of study necessary, for example, for under-
standing a Bach solo cello suite and also crucial for the coherent hearing of 
Webern (the registral stepwise connections). One can explain many of these 
things in a few minutes, but long studies (exercises) are required in order 
that they be sufficiently internalized as abstract principles of movement. I 
had no early education in pre-17th-century music; my later lack in that area 
was due to the peculiarities of my own schooling. That my experience was 
not totally idiosyncratic is borne out by my musician friends. And I do know 
that too much of my adult life has been occupied with filling gaps in my 
education. I am not referring to the kind of self-education that goes on for-
ever; I mean basic gaps in schooling. 

We are living in times which offer too much exposure to an enormous 
variety of stimuli for us to depend upon purely imitative teaching (even with 
the most worthy model). This kind of teaching may be sufficient in a more 

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simple or closed society, where the exposure to limited stimuli permits a more 
profound engagement. The abstractions available through broad and 
thorough investigations in all the areas of music are crucial if we are to 
become anything other than victims, mindlessly latching onto what is at 
hand at the moment, with no real involvement. 

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