Shoutbox

Well, I was doing minimilism in class the other day (GCSE Music), and a point was brought up by the teacher; What really is music? How can you define music, music comes in different shapes and styles, but all in all, isn't it really just sound?

We are currently doing a study, about the man who created it, and those others that progressed it further, such as the phasing aspect of it etc. The man who was the first to "compose" minimilism, was from the "hippy" era, and his first show brough thousands of people, all it was, was a piano, on a stage, with a bucket of hay next to it, the composition was something like this:

'Walk onto the stage,
bring the piano onto the stage,
bring a bucket of hay onto the stage
wait for the piano to eat the bucket of hay'

It's not really a composition, but is it? The silence of those expecting something to happen, brought more sound around them, the peoples breathing, the beating of hearts etc, so it was really natural music simply brought around by this strange act on stage.

So the question is, what is music? and what does it trully mean to you?

I have been meaning to post the question "what is music?" for around a week now, I quite simply forgot lmfao... too much on my mind, stupid exams.

i think music is a expression of opinion

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Originally posted by Stigmata
i think music is a expression of opinion

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Explain ...

Music is only what you want it to be? Is that what you mean? ...

Personally, I think music is everything... I forgot to add that to the first post .

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Originally posted by traxor
'Walk onto the stage,
bring the piano onto the stage,
bring a bucket of hay onto the stage
wait for the piano to eat the bucket of hay'

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And people paid for that? I'd want my money back.

Music is the artform of combining numerous sounds of different pitches and other qualities to produce a pleasing form of entertainment, or to provoke emotion.

I would say that music is very tightly linked to mathematics, music is art, music is a way of expressing yourself.
Me and my mates came a across a difficult question when discussing this the other day, would you rather be deaf or blind.

that is a question a bit like "what is art?"
and i think that it is something different to everyone. You have to define it yourself.
my definition would be something along the lines of...
music is something that people choose to listen to for a non-practical purpose

Some kind of rhythm that makes you do stuff, makes you happy/sad/work harder/motivate you/ etc. A collection of sounds...

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Originally posted by raceprouk
Music is the artform of combining numerous sounds of different pitches and other qualities to produce a pleasing form of entertainment, or to provoke emotion.

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for me:
Music is a combination of things you can hear which the creator or beholder thinks of it as coherent.

* I didn't use the word "artform", as this is very subjective and music isn't nessecairly "art".
* I didn't use the word "sounds" as this might imply certain things related to music. "Music" can consist of anything you hear.
* I certainly didn't use the word "pitches" as this certainly can imply audio only. Pitch is also not nessecairly important in music.
* I didn't use the words "quality", "pleasing", "entertainment", "emotion", etc..  as these are again very subjective somethings.

Important for me is the word "coherent". Music is exactly that, otherwise you have simply "sound" or undefined stuff you hear. But notice I underlined "which the creator or beholder", because music can be anything to any person. It is the creator or beholder who calls it music, no-one else and you may/may not agree with it; it is the creator or beholder who thinks it is coherent or not...

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Originally posted by jren207
Some kind of rhythm that makes you do stuff, makes you happy/sad/work harder/motivate you/ etc. A collection of sounds...

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1) Music doesn't need to have a rythem to be called music.
2) The individual sounds in the collection needs to have "a relation", it needs to be "coherent" in the eye of the creator...

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Originally posted by gif83
music is something that people choose to listen to for a non-practical purpose

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People can be forced to listen. Music can be very practical.

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Originally posted by Veggie
I would say that music is very tightly linked to mathematics, music is art, music is a way of expressing yourself.

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music, as most of us know it, is indeed very related to maths, but this isn't nessecairly so...
Music can be very non-"arty" ("art" is an even more subjective word though). Music can have nothing to do with expressing, feelings, emotions and the likes...

-
IMH(and personal)O

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
for me:
Music is a combination of things you can hear which the creator thinks of it as coherent.

* I didn't use the word "artform", as this is very subjective.
* I didn't use the word "sounds" as this might imply certain things related to music. "Music" can consist of anything you hear.
* I certainly didn't use the word "pitches" as this certainly can imply audio.
* I didn't use the words "quality", "pleasing", "entertainment", "emotion", etc..  as these are again very subjective somethings.

Important in for me is the word "coherent". Music is exactly that, otherwise you have simply "sound". But notice I underlined "which the creator", because music can be anything to any person. It is the creator who calls it music, no-one else and you may/may not agree with it...

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coherent is not really enough for the definition since a telesales person could be talking down to the phone to you coherently.

you say artform is subjective... but so is music... (and yes i do understand that this is probably not your view)

and it's not up to the creator to define... or else music wouldn't be alive.

i leave you with one final comment...

the sound of the end of school bell may be music to many pupils' ears

I've edited my post even before readin yours, but:

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Originally posted by gif83
coherent is not really enough for the definition since a telesales person could be talking down to the phone to you coherently.

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coherent means the individual parts need to be in some kind of relationship (defined by the creator or beholder) to the other parts and to the whole... If there isn't a relationship, then you have individual hearable stuff, nothing more...

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Originally posted by gif83
you say artform is subjective... but so is music...

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That's indeed exactly what my definition says, see the words "for the creator or beholder". If it wasn't something subjective that line wouldn't be there.

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Originally posted by gif83
and it's not up to the creator to define... or else music wouldn't be alive.

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Music doesn't need to be alive at all. I can create something and call it music. For me it is music and since music is subjective, this is were it ends without discussion...

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Originally posted by gif83
the sound of the end of school bell may be music to many pupils' ears

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indeed. But now you're using the word "music" as something else, as a metaphor and not literally as a definition requires; The bell may sound like "crazy" also (metaphor), is the bell therefore crazy (definition of crazy)? Or: a table can look to me as a "car". Surely the definition of a table doesn't include anything related to a car....