> You can't start a science textbook like that. 'Music theory books' make no claim to be scientific. Western music is a cultural construct and there are books

> You can't start a science textbook like that. 'Music theory books' make no claim to be scientific. Western music is a cultural construct and there are books that explain how to practice this particular field. For insiders, the three initial statements the author attempts to burn down make perfect sense. What it means to locate a (part of) a music piece in a 'harmonic system' makes just as much sense to musicians as the rest of us calling a lollypop 'sweet'. I wouldn't criticise cooks for not describing taste by the molecular contents of their ingredients. While it's interesting to dissect music differently from how musicians may analyse it, completely rejecting local experts' understanding of a phenomenon runs counter to finding out more. Is a farmer a complete fail whale for knowing when to plant his crops based on when a certain type of flower first blooms, rather than the precise position of the earth relative to the sun? If I would only read music theory by this author, I would still not have a clue how to play the piano. He/she wastes a lot of words on what could otherwise be described as the difference between Metis and Techne, or local knowledge and technical knowledge. I pasted two long quotes about the distinction between Metis and Techne here: https://pastebin.com/ZYKJDFRN https://pastebin.com/ZYKJDFRN