Where did the major scale come from Why does most traditional nonWestern music not share Western principles of harmony What does the inner structure of a canon have to do with religious belief Why in historical terms is J.S. Bachs music regarded as a perfect combination of melody and harmony Why do clocks in church towers strike dominanttonicdominanttonic What do cathedrals have to do with monochords How can the harmonic series be demonstrated with a rope tied to a doorknob and how can it be heard by standing next to an electric fan Why are the free ocean waves in Debussys La Mer the turbulent river waves in Smetanas Moldau and the fountain ripples in Ravels Jeux dEau pushed at times into fourbar phrases Why is the metric system inherently unsuitable for organizing music and poetry In what way does Platos Timaeus resemble the prelude to Wagners Das Rheingold Just how does Beethovens work perfectly illustrate fully functional tonality and why were longrange works based on this type of tonality impossible before the introduction of equal temperament In this new century what promising materials are available to composers in the wake of harmonic experimentation and some would argue exhaustion The answers to these seemingly complicated questions are not the sole province of music professors or orchestra conductors. In fact as E.