Art
Music
The definition of the word "music" is hotly contested, not least
because the word has such strong connotations and use beyond the
subject itself.
Music as sound: One common definition of music is to label it as
"organized sound" or more ornately, "the artful organization of sound
and silence". This definition is widely held to from the late 19th
century forward, which began to scientifically analyze the
relationship between sound and perception.
Music as subjective experience: Another commonly held definition of
music holds that music must be "pleasant" or "melodic". This view is
used to argue that some kinds of organized sound "are not music",
while others are. Since the range of what is accepted as music varies
from culture to culture and from time to time, more elaborate versions
of this definition admit some kind of cultural or social evolution of
music. This definition was the predominant one in the 18th century,
where, for example, Mozart stated that "music must never forget
itself, it must never cease to be music."
Music as a category of perception: Less commonly held is the
cognitive definition of music, which argues that music is not merely
the sound, or the perception of sound, but a means by which
perception, action and memory are organized. This definition is
influential in the cognitive sciences, which search to locate the
regions of the brain responsible for parsing or remembering different
aspects of musical experience. This definition would include dance.
The Boulanger's established a school of thought centered around this
concept which included the idea of
eurythmics, which is gesture guided by music.
Music as a social construct: Post-modern theories argue that, like
art, music is defined primarily by social context. According to this
view, music is what people call music, whether it is a period of
silence, found sounds, or performance. Famously
John Cage's work 4' 33" is rooted in this conception of music.
Because of this range of definitions, the study of music comes in a
wide variety of forms. There is the study of sound and vibration or
acoustics, the cognitive study of music, the study of music theory
and performance practice or
music theory and
ethnomusicology and the study of the reception and history of
music, generally called
musicology.
Aspects of music
The commonly defined compositional and auditory aspects of music
are
pitch,
timbre,
intensity, and
duration. Pitch is rooted in the frequency of the sound
experienced, and is perceived as how "low" or "high" a sound is, and
may be further described as
definite pitch or
indefinite pitch. Timbre is the quality of a sound, determined by
the
fundamental and its
spectra:
overtones or
harmonics and
envelope, and varies between
voices
and types and kinds of
musical instruments, which are tools used to produce sound.
Intensity, or
dynamics, is how loud or quiet a sound is and includes how
stressed
a sound is. The spatial location or the movement in space of sounds
may also be an aspect of music.
Silence
is also often considered an aspect of music, if it is considered to
exist. Duration is the only aspect common to both "sound" and
"silence", being the temporal aspect of music. A
musician is someone who performs, composes, or conducts music.
Some cultures may or may not include the above aspects, or include
their own aspects, in their definitions of music. For instance, in
classical Indian music there is no conception of harmony or vertical
relationships, and the
Blackfoot do not consider bird "song" to be music. Some cultures
would include
dance
Common terms
Terms used to discuss particular pieces include
note
which refers to a specific pitch and its placement;
melody,
which is a succession of notes heard as some sort of unit;
chord, which is a
simultaneity of notes heard as some sort of unit;
chord progression which is a
succession of chords (simultaneity
succession);
harmony,
which is the relationship between two or more pitches;
counterpoint, which is the simultaneity and organization of
different melodies; and
rhythm
which is the organization of the durational aspects of music.
For a more comprehensive list of terms see:
List of musical topic
Performanc
Solo and ensemble
Many cultures include strong traditions of
solo or
soloistic
performance, such as in
Indian classical music, while other cultures, such as in
Bali,
include strong traditions of
group
performance. All cultures include a mixture of both, and performance
may range from improvised solo playing for one's enjoyment to highly
planned and organized performance rituals such as the modern classical
concert
or
religious processions. What is called
chamber music is often seen as more intimate than
symphonic works. A performer is called a
musician, a group being a
musical ensemble such as a
rock band or
orchestra.
Oral tradition and notation
Music is often preserved in memory and performance only, handed
down orally, or aurally ("by ear"), this music often may be considered
"traditional" or not considered composed by individuals. Different
musical traditions have different attitudes towards how and where to
make changes to the original source material, from quite strict, to
those which demand
improvisation. If the music is written down, it is generally in
some manner which attempts to capture both what should be heard by
listeners, and what the musician should do to perform the music. This
is referred to as
musical notation, and the study of how to read notation involves
music theory. Written notation varies with style and period of
music, and includes scores, lead sheets, guitar tablature, among the
more common notations. Generally music which is to be performed is
produced as
sheet music. To perform music from notation requires an
understanding of both the musical style and performance practice
expected or acceptable.
Improvisation, interpretation, composition
Most cultures use at least part of the concept of preconceiving
musical material, or
composition, as held in western classical music. Many but fewer
cultures also include the related concept of
interpretation, performing material conceived by others, and less
still the contrasting concept of
improvisation, material which is spontaneously thought of while
performed, not pre-conceived. However, many cultures and
people do not have this distinction at all, using a broader concept
which incorporates both without discrimination. Improvised music
virtually always follows some rules or conventions and even "fully
composed" includes some freely chosen material. See also,
precompositional. Composition does not always mean the use of
notation, or the known sole authorship of one individual
Compositional methods
Music can also be determined by describing a "process" which may
create musical sounds, examples of this range from wind chimes,
through computer programs which select sounds. Music which contains
elements selected by chance is called
Aleatoric music, and is most famously associated with
John Cage and Witold Lutoslawski. See:
precompositional,
form,
modulation,
twelve tone technique,
serialism, and
process music.
Audition
Concerts take many different forms and may include people dressing
in formal wear and sitting quietly in the rows of auditoriums,
drinking and dancing in a bar, or loudly cheering and booing in an
auditorium.
Deaf
people can experience music by feeling the vibrations in their body;
the most famous example of a deaf musician is the composer
Ludwig van Beethoven, who composed many famous works even after he
had completely lost his hearing. In more modern times,
Evelyn Glennie, who has been deaf since the age of twelve, is a
highly acclaimed percussionist. Also,
Chris Buck, a violinist virtuoso and New Zealander, has recently
developed deafness. See:
Baschet Brothers. See:
psychoacoustics
Media
The music that composers make can be heard through several
media;
the most traditional way is to hear it live, in the presence, or as
one of, the musicians. Live music can also be broadcast over the
radio
or
television. Some musical styles focus on producing a sound for a
performance, while others focus on producing a recording which mixes
together sounds which were never played "live". Recording, even of
styles which are essentially live often uses the ability to edit and
splice to produce recordings which are considered "better" than the
actual performance.
In many cultures there is less distinction between performing and
listening to music, as virtually everyone is involved in some sort of
musical activity, often communal. Sometime in the middle 20th century,
listening to music through a recorded form, such as
sound recording or watching a
music video became more common than experiencing live performance.
Sometimes, live
performances incorporate prerecorded sounds; for example, a
DJ uses
records for
scratching.
See:
sound sculpture.
Education
Training
Many people compose, perform, and improvise music with no training
and feel no need for training, including entire cultures. Other
cultures have traditions of rigorous formal training that may take
years and serious dedication. Sometimes this training takes the form
of apprenticeship, as in
Indian training traditionally take more years than a college
education and involves spiritual discipline and reverence for one's
guru or
teacher. In
Bali everyone learns and practices together. It is also common for
people to take
music lessons, short private study sessions with an individual
teacher, when they want to learn to play or compose music, usually for
a fee. The most famous private composition teacher is
Nadia Boulanger.
Secondary education
The incorporation of music performance and theory into a general
liberal arts curriculum, from pre-school to postsecondary education,
is relatively common. Western style secondary schooling is
increasingly common around the world, such as
STSI in
Bali. Meanwhile, western schools are increasingly including the
study of the music of other cultures such as the Balinese gamelan, of
which there are currently more than 200 in America.
Study
Many people also study about music in the field of
musicology. The earliest definitions of
musicology defined three sub-disciplines:
systematic musicology,
historical musicology, and
comparative musicology. In contemporary scholarship, one is more
likely to encounter a division of the discipline into
music theory,
music history, and
ethnomusicology. Research in musicology has often been enriched by
cross-disciplinary work, for example in the field of
psychoacoustics. The study of music of non-western cultures, and
the cultural study of music, is called
ethnomusicology.
In Medieval times, the study of music was one of the
Quadrivium of the seven
Liberal Arts and considered vital to higher learning. Within the
quantitative
Quadrivium, music, or more accurately
harmonics, was the study of rational proportions.
Theory
Music theory is the study of music, generally in a highly technical
manner outside of other disciplines. More broadly it refers to any
study of music, usually related in some form with compositional
concerns, and may include physics, mathematics, and anthropology. What
is most commonly taught in beginning music theory classes are
guidelines to write in the style of the
common practice period, or
tonal music. Theory, even that which studies music of the common
practice period, may take many other forms.
Musical set theory is the application of mathematical
set theory to music, first applied to
atonal music.
Speculative music theory is devoted to the analysis and synthesis
of music materials, for example
tuning systems, generally as preparation for composition. See
"Common Terms" above.
Genres
As there are many definitions for music there are many divisions
and groupings of music, many of which are as hotly contested as, and
even caught up in, the argument over the definition of music. There
are many
musical genres. Among the larger genres are
classical music,
popular music or commercial music (including
rock and roll) and
folk music. The term
world music is applied to a wide range of music made outside
of Europe and European influence, although its initial application, in
the context of the World Music Program at Wesleyan University, was as
a term including all possible musics, and not excluding European
traditions. In academic circles, the original term for the study of
world music, "comparative musicology", was replaced in the middle of
the twentieth century by "ethnomusicology", which is still an
unsatisfactory definition. The term
video game music refers to music pieces from a
video game.
Genres of music are as often determined by tradition and
presentation as by the actual music. While most classical music is
acoustical in nature, and meant to be performed by individuals, many
works include samples, tape, or are mechanical, and yet described as
"classical". Some works, for example Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, are
claimed by both Jazz and Classical Music.
As cultures of the world have been in more contact with each other,
their indigenous music styles have often melded to form new styles.
For example, the U.S.-American
bluegrass style has elements from Anglo-Irish, Scottish, Irish,
German and some African-American instrumental and vocal traditions,
and can only have been a product of the 20th Century.
Many
music festivals exist these days celebrating a particular music
genre.
See:
List of genres of music
See also
External links
Music and math
