What is music?

[Buckle-meister]

Dear all

It seems an odd question I know, but apart from the "music is a collection of repetative beats typically overlain by percussive sounds and lyrics", have any of you ever wondered what music is?

The above description may technically be correct, but why do we really enjoy music? What is it about music that gets your foot tapping? It's only a collection of sounds after all, right? If a car honked its horn repetatively, you wouldn't feel quite the same way right?

So why music? What is it about music that makes it raise the hair on our necks? Make us want to get up and dance? Gives all of us such enjoyment and pleasure?

Regards

 

[Tomorrow]

Buckle, have you been into the whisky again?

 

[Buckle-meister]

Buckle, have you been into the whisky again?

Only two nights ago. Feels like an eternity (sigh)

Just answer the question damnit!

Regards

 

[brian32672]

Only two nights ago. Feels like an eternity (sigh)

Just answer the question damnit!

Regards

Yeah I have to say, it sounds like you been hitting the bottle. Well anyway, here is a good place to start...
origins of music
http://www.encyclopedia.com/searchpool.asp?target=origins+of+music&Search.x=33&Search.y=9&clientIp=66.176.237.246&userAgent=Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+6.0;+Windows+NT+5.1;+SV1)

Or here with just the word music typed in.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/searchpool.asp?target=music&Search.x=31&Search.y=9&clientIp=66.176.237.246&userAgent=Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+6.0;+Windows+NT+5.1;+SV1)

and theory of music
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/t1/theory.asp

Here is Encarta:
Definitions:
1. sounds that produce effect: sounds, usually produced by instruments or voices, that are arranged or played in order to create an effect
2. art of arranging sounds: the art of arranging or making sounds, usually those of musical instruments or voices, so as to create an effect
3. type of music: music of a particular type, place, time, instrument, or style
rock-and-roll music
4. written music: written notation indicating the pitch, duration, rhythm, and tone of notes to be played
5. pleasing sound: a sound or group of sounds that creates a desired effect
the music of the wind in the trees
[13th century. Via French musique < Greek mousikē "art of the Muse, music" < mousikos "of a Muse" < mousa "muse"]
be (like) music to somebody's ears to be very pleasant, satisfying, or reassuring to hear

face the music to deal with a pressing, difficult, or unpleasant situation arising from something you have done previously

Or all the dictionary searches here... http://www.onelook.com/?w=music&ls=a

EDIT:: If you meant what is music to an individual, then that would be subjective and would belong in the steam vent... Just my .02

 

[Tomorrow]

Just answer the question damnit!

Regards

Music? It loads your soul
with love or pain.
Found and lost are all in one.

Music? It beckons your heart
with lightness or worry,
with pitch darkness and burning sun.

Music moves your feet,
totally out of your control,
to lilt or tap to sorrow or fun.

It's what you hear...or don't.
It makes you feel with mere notes.
Just you and it, together, till the music is done.


Good cheer.

 

[shokhead]

In the end,for me its the POWER.

 

[Buckle-meister]

...I have to say, it sounds like you been hitting the bottle.

Nah. I knew it was a pretty 'deep' question, but hey, I'm a rather deep person.

If you meant what is music to an individual, then that would be subjective and would belong in the steam vent...

I disagree. I'd definitely say its more philosophical than general in nature.

Music? It loads your soul
with love or pain.
Found and lost are all in one.

Music? It beckons your heart
with lightness or worry,
with pitch darkness and burning sun.

Music moves your feet,
totally out of your control,
to lilt or tap to sorrow or fun.

It's what you hear...or don't.
It makes you feel with mere notes.
Just you and it, together, till the music is done.

Now this is more like what I was expecting. Good stuff, and it certainly describes music's effect, but why? It doesn't explain why it has the effect it does (note that I have yet to look at Brian's links).

In the end,for me its the POWER.

(sigh)

Regards

 

[Bevan]

i think part of its appeal might be that it offers us a 'forgetting of ourselves', a sort of escape from that unescapable sense of self. beer and bad t.v can aalso do this, so there might be more too it than that.

i read many years back the german philosopher arthur schopenhauer and his take on music. if i remember he made a distiction between music and other aethetic experiences, like looking at a sunset. i think he was saying that the latter type experiences were the 'forgetting of oneself', the trancendental experiences. but that music was not like this, instead it was a sort of excitment of something personal and archetypal, that music in in its structure, the way it built up tention through discordant notes and then released the tention only to start over again, was a mirror of our lives which are governed by the pricipal of constant craving. e.g you crave for the denon 5805, save for a year to buy it, and then two weeks later find yourself reading reviews of the next best thing(similar to budhistic though; he was influenced by the upanishads)

i wish he had been around to experience psychedelic trance, because i think this type of music experence is unlike any other. at least the very progressive type of it that has no build ups and little or no melody. when one is receptive enough for this type of music and it is able to engage ones attention span for long enough to do its trick it provides a sence of impersonal beauty that is unlke anything i have experienced in rock, classical or jazz. schopehnauer might have lumped this one in with the other arts i suspect.

there must be a lot of philosophical texts that deal with music as a subset of aethetics. would like to investigate it more some day. its certainly an interesting question for all of us, why we like music and how it work its magic on us. hope there is more input on this thread.

cheers
b

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

It depends on the music. It depends on the individual. What I consider music that moves me is completely different from what other's might consider music. To me rap and country are NOT music and they don't make my feet tap, they don't get my groove movin', they just make me angry and upset. Nothing spoils my mood quicker than someone putting on rap or country.

So my point is, the definition "music is a collection of repetative beats typically overlain by percussive sounds and lyrics", is correct with the caveat that to some that collection of repetitive beats might touch something in their soul and please them while to others that same collection of repetitive beats might just irritate the hell out of them.

So to ask what is music is akin to asking what is beauty or what is art or what is good food. Each varies with the individual. One man's whisky is another man's poison.

 

[L-Jay]

Indeed, music is power. It's a part of our us. By us I mean who we are on the inside. We are attracted to music because we can feel it deep within. When your falling in or out of love, when your happy or sad, rich or poor, music is always there. It lifts us up or it brings us down. It makes us......
Alright, I gotta lay off the sauce.


All joking aside, I love music. A beautiful song can brighten anyones day.

 

[Tomorrow]

Good stuff, and it certainly describes music's effect, but why? It doesn't explain why it has the effect it does
Regards

Buckle...."why"? Because!

Why questions tend to be personal, philosophical, and answered with heuristic speculation. One can give reasons, but never know with certainty. Why's become endlessly trailed or causitive...like the kid who asks "Why was I born?" "Because mommy and daddy had intercourse." "Why did mommy and you have intercourse?" "Because we love each other." "Why do you love mommy?" "Because mommy has beautiful eyes." "So I was born cuz mommy has beautiful eyes?"

And why shouldn't be confused with what. What makes the sky blue? (EM wavelength) ....is much different from why is the sky blue (god/something created it that way).

See what I mean? Only you can answer your particular why question. With that in mind, tell us why you experience what you do when you hear music.

By the way, there are some excellent, thoughtful posts on this thread. Very enjoyable.

 

[Buckle-meister]

Well, for myself, I'd have to define music as 'the language of the soul', especially orchestral music, which I consider to be the purest 'tongue' of all musical genres even though it forms the least part of my own music collection.

Regards

 

[Buckle-meister]

Why questions tend to be...philosophical

That's why the thread was placed where it was.

One can give reasons, but never know with certainty.

This is ok with me. I'm not trying to pin down a definite answer; I'm just interested in what others think.

why shouldn't be confused with what.

Good point. I've perhaps been unclear, what with my title saying one thing and my body text saying another. I am asking 'what', though am not interested in the obvious technical explanation which I'm sure is worthless to us all.

With that in mind, tell us why you experience what you do when you hear music.

Damn! Busted! (I wrote my previous post prior to reading your own)

Regards

 

[Dan]

I remember that John Cage had a piece that was complete silence. (Name now forgotten). The idea was that music is the space between the sounds as well as the sounds itself.

 

[mustang_steve]

Music is simply, a deliberately manmade conglomeration of specific sounds, meant to elicit an emptional response from the audience. Voice is sound too

Now why we like it, it's simple...we have emotions, and since the music is designed to pull on those in one way or another, we feel for it.

Like how when you hear a good rock song, you can feel all pumped up, or how the orchetra in an opera uses the music to set the mood....heck if you want proof that music triggers our emotions... I bet a few of us guys have tryed playing Barry White or Isaac Hayes or another similar artist's work when trying to get our groove on with the women (whether it worked is a whole different story!)

Now you have whole ranges of music, from dark and gloomy, to breathtaking, to sad, all the way to medication required levels of happiness. Pretty much what works for a person is dependant on their moods and how each type of music works with it.

For me, I have a hard time with country music...too mellow...I'm starting to not mind it, but I won't own any discs of it anytime soon.

On the other hand, I have an utter passion for metal...it may not sound like an audiophile music taste, but does the type of music you listen to define audiophile, or just the fact that you love music, and intend to experience it as the artist intended?

 

[claudermilk]

I remember that John Cage had a piece that was complete silence. (Name now forgotten). The idea was that music is the space between the sounds as well as the sounds itself.

Wasn't that just called "3 minutes" or something along those lines? I heard D ) about that one; apparently everyone becmae very aware of the typical backgrounds noise in the theater & that became the piece. Interesting idea; it does point out the bits of silence are just as important as the noise.

I think mustang_steve put it well, it's the emotional response you get. That's what it is all about for me. I like many types of music, primarily metal & Jazz right now (go figure) and cannot tolerate rap.

 

[Mort Corey]

From a composition standpoint, it's a way to convey emotion on a non verbal level.

Mort (ex-composer)

 

[Buckle-meister]

Round two!

Hmm, ok then. Lets see if we can take things to the next level.

I see a pattern emerging from previous posts that music is an emotional stimulus. I have already indicated that I feel it is connected to one's soul.

Would you agree that emotion is something that is felt by the soul? If we didn't have a soul, would we comprehend music? And if not, why not?

Regards

 

[shokhead]

Hmm, ok then. Lets see if we can take things to the next level.

I see a pattern emerging from previous posts that music is an emotional stimulus. I have already indicated that I feel it is connected to one's soul.

Would you agree that emotion is something that is felt by the soul? If we didn't have a soul, would we comprehend music? And if not, why not?

Regards

Hoursecrap

 

[Buckle-meister]

Hoursecrap

You forgot your explanation Shokhead.

Regards