The Fable Of The Seer & The Scholars

I remember vividly a day working, as a second year undergraduate, on applying Schenkerian Analysis to the Preludes of J.S. Bach. Sheets of A3 were spread out over my desk as the music played and I mapped out the foreground, middle ground and background skeleton structures, distinguishing between thematic and decorative elements - their relationships horizontally and vertically across the three hierarchical levels. What had, prior to then, simply been (for me) some of the most beautiful music I’d heard, then revealed its incredible dynamic structure and form. To recognize and comprehend this only magnified its beauty all the more. There’s something very exciting about discovering the intelligibility of Form and dynamic relationship. I remember then thinking to myself that if it were possible, I’d like to do this kind of work for a living.