What is music?
 

I have a very lenient definition of music, but I do think it requires a musician. Having said that, I actually prefer listening to ambient sounds over music when I'm outside.

I think of music as organized sound. Most of the time it requires someone to organize those sounds - a musician. Music fills a void of near-silence (because there really is no such thing as total silence in the natural world). But on that note (please pardon the lame pun), music doesn't have to be anything, which is the case with John Cage's 4'33". That piece was meant to be a more philosophical approach to music and sound as a whole - meant to make you more aware of the sounds happening around you rather than the music coming from the performer.

Pretty sure nature has music covered without any human intervention (aside from conservation)

http://ronrink.com/wp-content/upload...2/songbird.jpg

Considering the term songbird represents over 4000 species, yeah I'm going to vote - does not need a musician.

Sigh! The latest X-Factor wannabe? What's the sob story? Thrown out of the nest as a chick, fell in with a gang of magpies and took to thieving before finding her muse under the wing (ouch) of a friendly nightingale?

Heard it all before, dear! :D

Music is commonly defined as "organized sound", though whether or not birds are valid examples is up for debate, I suppose. It's certainly organized to them, considering it is bird language.

I think the issue with that definition is that not all organized sound is music. Take, for example, the audio track of a movie. All those sound effects and bits of dialogue are certainly intelligently, deliberately, creatively organized sound but nobody considers it music.

For that reason I think it comes down to intent.

I kind of don't think that music requires a conductor or musician in order for it to come about. It's really about the listener, in this case, and whether or not they believe that something is or is not music. For example, at times, my neighbour's lawnmower clashes nicely with the wind blowing leaves across the sidewalk, and the bell chimes and water falling from the dripping faucet sound pleasant with it as well--rhythmic, if you may. Most people would say something like "hey, that sounds like a song". I'd say that it sounds like one because it is one, to be honest.

But it's a bit different when it comes to a person calling something music and others refuting that it is, in fact, not music at all. Intent does also play a massive role in what we determine as music when it comes to people playing or conducting the piece. I don't think that a line can be drawn in that you tell someone who releases an album of wind causing a microphone to hit the reds and dialogue clips from various films. Sure, it may not be the most interesting music or something that you never would want to listen to, but that just makes it bad (oh that subjective term, yes) music. One can't take away what the original intent is, no matter how much one may dislike it. Sort of reminds me of the Frank Zappa quote: “A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians.”

I think for something to be "music," it usually must be somewhat rhythmic (defined in part by the listener) and (consciously or not) organized.