Our objective is to present a workshop in which we will demonstrate and discuss principles of musical esthetics based on the organized tonal system which has been in (and out) of use in Western music for the last 3-4 centuries. We plan to make extensive use of musical examples that underscore our points and discuss philosophical implications of the choices composers throughout the years have made, regarding whether or not to adhere to a rational and integrated tonal language, such as the one which flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries and has been denigrated by most modern ivory-tower composers and theoreticians.