The Crab takes it, looks it over for a moment, then sets it in his music
holder, and pipes.)
Crab: Why, that's quite nice, Achilles. I enjoy strange rhythms.
Achilles: What's strange about the rhythms in that piece?
Crab: Oh, naturally, to you as the composer it must seem quite bland, but
to my ears, shifting from a 3/3 rhythm to 4/4 and then to 5/5 is quite
exotic. If you have any other songs, I'd be glad to play them.
Achilles: Thank you very much. I've never composed anything before,
and I must say composing is quite different from how I had imagined
it to be. Let me try my hand at another one. Uots down a line.)
- 3a:3b:(SSa' SSb) =SSSSSSSSSSSSSSO
Crab: Hmmm ... Isn't that just a copy of my earlier piece?
Achilles: Oh, no! I've added one more S. Where you had thirteen in a row,
I have fourteen.
Crab: Oh, yes. Of course. (He plays it, and looks very stern.)
Achilles: I do hope you didn't dislike my piece!
Crab: I am afraid, Achilles, that you completely failed to grasp the sub-
tleties of my piece, upon which yours is modeled. But how could I
expect you to understand it on first hearing? One does not always
understand what is at the root of beauty. It is so easy to mistake the
superficial aspects of a piece for its beauty, and to imitate them, when
the beauty itself is locked deep inside the music, in a way which seems
always to elude analysis.
Achilles: I am afraid that you have lost me a little in your erudite commen-
tary. I understand that my piece does not measure up to your high
standards, but I do not know exactly where I went astray. Could you
perhaps tell me some specific way in which you find fault with my
composition?
Crab: One possible way to save your composition, Achilles, would be to
insert another three S's-five would do as well-into that long group of
S's near the end. That would create a subtle and unusual effect.
Achilles: I see.
Crab: But there are other ways you might choose to change your piece.
Personally, I would find it most appealing to put another tilde in the
front. Then there would be a nice balance between the beginning and
the end. Having two tildes in a row never fails to give a gay little twist to
.a piece, you know.
Achilles: How about if I take both of your suggestions, and make the
following piece? - -3a:3b;(SSa. SSb) =SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSO
Crab (a painful grimace crossing his face): Now, Achilles, it is important to
learn the following lesson: never try to put too much into any single
piece. There is always a point beyond which it cannot be improved,
(^554) The Magnijicrab, Indeed