Jim Tobin brings up the idea of musical meaning being essentially a matter
of understanding conventions.  This is certainly my view, and I would add
that these conventions do not necessarily (although they might) cross
cultures or times.  He then goes on:

>Deryck Cooke (The Language of Music) did as well as anyone with this and
>I don't know if he has received a reading as sympathetic as he perhaps
>deserves for his efforts.

This is a brilliant book.  I read a library copy, which I was not allowed
to borrow.  I kept coming back day after day.  I've been trying to find a
copy for myself for years.  Cooke certainly knew a lot of music in great
detail.  I might nit-pick here and there, but overall if anyone has
understood the expressive gestures of most of Western music, it's certainly
Cooke.

Steve Schwartz