The Clarity of the Musical Statement

Concentrating the Musical Elements

Proportioning the Musical Parameters

Orders of Magnitude in Music

Equating the Parameters in Twelve-Tone Music

The Reversal of the Natural Musical Order

The Total Range
of the Economy
of Music

The Energy Investment of the Listener During the Hearing Process

Economy of Listening to Music

The economy of music is concerned with the economical application of the musical parameters.
Here the following principle applies: whatever can be expressed with a motif, does not require a melody or even a sequence, and what can be expressed with a tone should not be expressed with a motif.

The precisely proportioned application of the musical elements is the decisive factor for the clarity of the musical statement.

Just as the highest concentration of carbon creates the clarity of the diamond, while the lack of density in carbon causes the opaque blackness of coal, likewise the high concentration of the musical elements in the form of musical simplicity makes the composition "transparent": makes it perfect music.

The importance of proportioning the parameters of space and time has been previously described, and the same importance applies to the proportioning of all the other parameters – where "proportioning" does not mean equality or equalization, as for example in twelve-tone-music.

Just as the head has a dimension of tasks different from that of the foot, in the same way the motif and the sound belong to different dimensions, and the sequence too is of quite a different order of magnitude than the motif.

The effect of proportioning in such a way, that all components are of equal importance, is demonstrated by twelve-tone-music and its further development, the serial composing technique.

And what happens when, for example, the foot gains a greater importance in music than the head, and even begins to rule over the head, is demonstrated by the entire entertainment music.

The economy of music not only comprises the entire important field of the proper proportioning of the sound, motif, melody, sequence, and harmony, but also the proportioning of the motifs amongst each other, the tonalities amongst each other, the sequences amongst each other – and even the tones amongst each other.

In addition, the economy of music also concerns the invest-ment of energy by the listener during the hearing process.
If the listener, for example, has to resist dissonances, the entire concert for him is uneconomical, and mentally-spiritual-ly he has made a "bad deal." And only if, after listening to music, he is happy, strengthened and full of energy, will he have made a "good deal" mentally-spiritually.

Whether the listener "wins" or "loses" while listening to mu-sic, depends on the natural organization of the compositional parameters in the musical work – on the integration of the composition, and on the persuasive power of the piece of music: it depends on the entire economy of music itself.

"Where language ends, music begins."

E.T.A. Hoffmann