ABSTRACT
Vocal music arose partly as a result of a consciousness of difference in tone within the human voice, and partly by the apprehension of similar differentiations in the natural acoustical environment. Instrumental music followed on from this development, in imitation of vocal and natural acoustics. The study of primitive music presents historians with enormously charged metaphoric possibilities. Up to the 1880s, and in numerous instances well into the early part of the twentieth century, most books entitled 'A History of Music', 'Musical History', or 'A General History of Music' are narratival to the detriment of metaphor. In general music histories, the progress towards metaphorical and narratival equanimity, or a more modern literary and conceptual praxis, is evident as early as the 1880s. Foreign music is a kind of cultural narrative of its own, complementary of British accomplishments.
