What is music?
Well... what do you think? What really is music?
Does it require a musician or can it exist on its own without one? |
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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.
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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. |
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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.
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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.
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I believe that music is more felt more with a musician. I sing and there's definitely a huge difference when you sing with minus one and with a musician. Having a musician allows you to emphasize more emotionally. There's so many effects you can do when a musician is involved like having the music prolong, more staccato like, or have it increase in an intense part.
But then again, music without a musician is also music as well. When we sit and reflect by ourselves with the sound of our music, we are fully engaged in it. The same emotions and the same thoughts appear. |
That's a good question. For a period of time at the beginning of this century just about anything qualified as music. Meaning car horns, screeches, door bell ringing.
They called this Avant Garde. To me this is a step back for music even Plain Chant sounds better than this music--plant chant is Medieval music without melody purely harmony. Now, I am glad music is moving back towards what it should be sounds of melody and harmony. I was even opposed to Jazz at one time until I heard some good Jazz such Miles Davis. So for me, music has infinite possibilities which are limited by creativity. Nothing beats something that can make you dance, think and sing along in my opinion. |
I believe that the definition of music depends on the person, and is extremely subjective. One person might argue that for something to be considered music one must have instruments and an artist performing the sounds. Others might argue that something as subtle as a bird chirp on a mountain top tree is music. Personally, music for me means what others have stated already, organized sound. If birds get together and chirp in organization, that can be music as well. Listening to a track of various birds chirping in synchronization can be soothing and amusing, therefore being music to me.
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First, I want to perform a thought experiment. Imagine that there are many humans who could very well consider natural phenomenon as musical. Birdsong, pitched whistling of wind through trees, rhythmic beats of a boulder tumbling down a mountainside. Imagine that humans could arrange these types of sound in their minds and extract a musical phrase or episode from them. I'm sure we all can, and have done so many times. Now, Imagine that suddenly, all human beings disappeared from the face of the earth, yet all these natural things remained. The birds, the wind, the rocks. Would it still be music? Like the cliche' riddle poses, "If a tree fell in the woods and there was no one around to hear it, would it still make a sound?" Personally, I firmly believe that the tree would make a sound, because there is a physicality behind the phenomenon of sound. The tree hitting the ground would still cause vibration in the air, forming sound waves, which is sound. But the crux of the question is hidden from plain sight. Would the tree make a "sound", as we can perceive it? Would the birds, the wind, and the rocks make "music", as we can perceive it? Could, in some distant future where all humans become extinct, but record players remain playing their songs to no discerning ears be playing "music", or just ordered sound with no more meaning to the birds than their call's intent is to us? Having waxed philosophical, I end with this: I believe music is, or at least started, the perception of its strict definition. I believe music is our cultural and emotional understanding of ordered sound. I believe that, without us, ordered sound would have never had any propensity to become more than that... And, as such, I believe that as long as we're around, music strictly exists in us. Otherwise, it's just another birdsong. Wind. Rocks. |
"When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone, in the air. You can never capture it again."
- Eric Dolphy The dude apparently used to open his window so he could blow his flute along with nature and jam with the birds and the sound of the wind in the trees. http://www.thewire.co.uk/images/the_...val-wilmer.jpg :afro: |
Music is a therapy. A therapy of removing stress. xD
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This brings a couple of questions to mind: When do humans first differentiate between what we experience as sound and what we experience as "music"? Babies learn to speak by copying sounds; and at some point, they begin to sing songs or hum melodies. Do they realize what they are creating is "music?" or to them, is it just organized sounds that they remembered and then reproduced? How emotional is this experience? Is one's true concrete and abstract understanding of music diminished as we are educated logically on the topic? A lot of factors dictate what we believe to be music. Some people draw inspiration from ambient sound, and consider its rearrangement music, in a similar way as a collage or found art is considered art. Others come to identify the components of music theory like melody, harmony, rhythm etc. as music. There's planning, improvisation.... it's all as complex as the human mind itself. At the end of the day, it's just sound waves (actually, even more than just that!), and how you as a human, being capable of complex cognitive understanding, can understand the sensation of sound. Another thing that comes to mind is that music is not only heard, but felt (physically and emotionally). There are many people who are deaf that create, experience and enjoy music. In a way, they are able to experience some aspects of music better than hearing people can. I can only imagine what it would be like to enjoy music without hearing it. So basically, I understand music to be an experience of sound- something that can be felt, that creates a response in a person that understands the experience as being something called "music". It's really a relationship we have with the outside world. Because it fits into all the cracks of who we are as people, a true art form, it's about as difficult to truly understand music as it is to understand humanity as a whole. |
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Seeing how babies respond to music from a very early age leads me to believe there's an actual emotional response to it that's ingrained in humans. Babies obviously don't conceptualize music in the way that older children do, but I think humans are equipped with the capacity to recognize music as something more than white noise, for lack of a better term, from the outset. I think that as a child grows, he or she then begins to attribute meaning to it in a cultural sense, which keeps the emotional relevance evolving in a more intellectual way. All that is to say that I don't think the appreciation of music is learned. I think there's an inherent capacity for recognizing it in a basic, emotional way from very early on. I think the only thing that's learned is how we build upon that foundation as we grow. |
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I agree. |
What about other animals responding to music? My dogs always seem to be in a better mood whenever I play my guitar for them. Also, there has been history of elephants responding and even playing music. Check out these two videos.
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I wonder about that myself. There was a study that I read once about how dogs seem to be indifferent to music, but I have a hard time believing that. I've seen some dogs that were actually afraid of music playing from the radio or an instrument, and others that have found music comforting (especially when their owner is playing it). |
While we're in the womb, we hear the beating of the heart. Music is rhythmic like this. Therefore humans dig it when we come all into this world and sh*t.
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If a piece of putative music does not have a melody, then it is mere noise, not genuine music.
Melody is the sine qua non of music worthy of the name. |
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