Len replies to me:

>Bill Pirkle suggests:
>
>>Maybe there are no rules for writing good music, just rules about what to
>>avoid doing.
>
>And I would bet that for every such rule, we could find a composer of
>genius who broke that rule to wonderful effect.

Interesting point.  Maybe I should describe as a listener, a fictious
composition that may have broken the rules I am referring to.

"The composition began with a long introduction that after a while,
caused me to wonder if it was an introduction at all, or the first thematic
material.  It was too pronounced to be a mere introduction, yet too weak
to be thematic material.  Next came what was obviously thematic material
folllowed by even more and different thematic material.  I began to wonder
if I had just heard 3 themes with no development.  Then began what was
obviously a development but is was not clear what was being developed as
the development fragments did not closely identify with any of the previous
thematic material.  More development was introduced with the same effect.
My mind was having great difficulty in grasping the overall form of what I
was listening to - vague themes and apparnetly unrelated development.  Then
came a clearly identifiable theme followed by a wonderful development of
it.  This freshness made me want to discard everything that I had heard
before and start afresh with the composition.  Perhaps the first 10 minutes
was just an extremely long introduction ..."

There must be some rules since it is possible to flunk Composition 101.
With no such rules the professor must give everyone an A.

Bill Pirkle