Signor Benedick the Moor - GEB lyrics

(Like Gödel, Escher, Bach) The idea of a canon is that one single theme is played against itself This is done by having copies of the theme played by the various participating voices But there are many ways to do this The most straightforward of all canons is the round Such as "Three Blind Mice", "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", or "Frère Jacques" Here, the theme enters in the first voice and after a fixed time delay a copy of it enters in precisely the same key After the same fixed time delay in the second voice, the third voice enters carrying the theme, and so on Most themes will not harmonize with themselves in this way In order for a theme to work as a canon theme, each of its notes must be able to serve in a dual or a triple or a quadruple role It must firstly be part of a melody, and secondly it must be part of a harmonization of the same melody When the three canonical voices, for instance, each note of the theme must act in two distinct harmonic ways, as well as melodically Thus, each note in the canon has more than one musical meaning The listener's ear and brain automatically figure out the appropriate meaning by referring to context The idea of a canon is that one single theme is played against itself This is done by having copies of the theme played by the various participating voices (The idea of a canon is that one single theme is played against itself)