"SOCRATES: The unlimited variety of sound was once
discerned by some god, or perhaps some godlike man;
you know the story that there was some such person in
Egypt called Theuth......"

The text from Plato explains that Tehuti (Thoth) divided up the infinity of sound into three distinct categories:
- regular vibrations (pitch),
- random vibrations (noise), and
- the absence of sound (muting).

Mutation is the separation/differentiation in time and
space between the different tones. Without proper mutations,
we have chaos. The proper separation of sounds
enable us to distinguish and recognize each sound, and
how the consecutive sounds relate to each other. In
other words, mutation identifies the distance/time between
two sounds—the interval.

Mutations also set the different rhythmic patterns—
the different tempos.

Music, like language, is read in pattern, not individual
units, i.e. we read words, not letters. Understanding music/
words/phrases depends upon sensation and memory; for we
must not only feel sounds at the instant they strike the instrument, but remember those that had been struck before,
in order to be able to compare them together.

The time element separating consecutive tones is the organizing factor in hearing, feeling, and comprehending the intent of music
or spoken words/phrases.

[An excerpt from The Enduring Ancient Egyptian Musical system : Theory and Practice by Moustafa Gadalla]

View Book @ { https://egyptianwisdomcenter.org/product/the-enduring-ancient-egyptian-musical-system-theory-and-practice-second-edition/}