CHAPTER ONE

CONCERNING

SOUND AND HEARING.

Since it is our purpose to treat music The author uses "musica" here in the classical sense of a formal science in the manner of the philosophical disciplines—in which nothing may be put forward unless its knowledge and truth can be explained from what has preceded it—we must, above all else, set forth the doctrine of sounds and hearing. Of these, sounds constitute the material with which music occupies itself, while hearing encompasses its goal and end, which is the delight of the ears. For music teaches how to produce various sounds and to join them skillfully so that they may agreeably affect the sense of hearing with a pleasing harmony. Therefore, what our undertaking requires us to explain regarding sounds are their nature, production, and varieties; a sufficient knowledge of these matters must be sought from Physics and Mathematics original: Physica et Mathesi. Furthermore, if the primary organs of hearing are considered alongside these, we shall understand the method of hearing and the perception of sounds. How much utility these things will bring toward establishing and confirming the foundations of music will be clear to everyone from this: that the sweetness of sounds depends upon the method of perception, and must be explained by it.