This paradigm of consistency can be precisely defined in terms of its ‘exemplars’, that is, the editions, commentaries and performances of musicologists who have tacitly or explicitly removed inconsistencies of pitch, rhythm, articulation, ornamentation, etc.
This community differs from other branches of the musical profession in a number of ways, including its systematic adherence to a ‘paradigm of consistency’, which has been dominant in the theory and practice of musicology since its beginnings, over a century ago, 2 and which still informs most musicological editing and interpretation today.
Following Kuhn's analysis of scientific change, I argue thatthe profession of musicology now constitutes an international community engaged in ‘mature science’, which includes the processes of discovering, interpreting and editing early music. In his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962, second enlarged edition 1970), Kuhn outlines a new sociology of science which has been widely discussed in relation to many disciplines, but not yet - as far as I know 1 - to the science of music. I wish to draw attention to an issue emerging in the interpretation of music, and to argue that the musical profession is undergoing what Thomas S.
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