"The scientific laws of music are transitory, because they have been
tentatively constructed during the gradual development of the musical
faculty," says W. H. Hadow, in his valuable "Studies in Modern Music."
"No power in man is born at full growth; it begins in germ, and
progresses according to the particular laws that condition its nature.
Hence it requires one kind of treatment at one stage, another at
another, both being perfectly right and true in relation to their proper
period. But there are behind these special rules certain psychological
laws which seem, so far as we can understand them, to be coeval with
humanity itself; and these form the permanent code by which music is to
be judged. The reason why, in past ages, the critics have been so often
and so disastrously at fault is that they have mistaken the transitory
for the permanent, the rules of musical science for the laws of musical
philosophy."

An acquaintance with form as the manifestation of law is essential to an
intelligent hearing of music. The listener should have at least a
rudimentary knowledge of musical construction from the simplest ballad
to the most complex symphony. Having this knowledge it will be possible
to receive undisturbed the impressions music has to give, and to
distinguish the trivial and commonplace from the noble and beautiful.

The oftener good music is heard the more completely it will be
appreciated. Therefore, they listen best to music who hear the best
continually. The assertion is often heard that a person must be educated
up to an enjoyment of high class music. Certainly, one who has heard
nothing else must be educated down to an enjoyment of ragtime, with its
crude rhythms.

"We know a true poem to the extent to which our spirits respond to the