I know this seems pretty deep, especially for a 15 yr old, but how do you define music?

The other day, I played some Status Quo to my Gran.  She said that they can't be called music, but I love them.  Some people say that Slipknot are just screamin, and no music.

The dictionary defines music as 'Something very pleasant to hear.'  John Cage wrote a piece called 4'33" (4 mins 33 secs).  It's just four and a half minutes of silence.  Can that really be called music?

I realise this is very deep, but some of your ideas made known to me would be appreciated.  DB

It's so subjective... no judgement on your Gran, but she probably wouldn't like Chinese opera, either, and that's a centuries-old, deeply respected form of music.

4'33" isn't actually silent -- the whole performance space is the instrument. Cage got into this randomness thing, and 4'33" is four-and-a-half minutes of building creaking, audience rustling programmes, cars driving by outside. It's a little slice of time.

Cage and gamelan and Chinese opera may not be music to your Grandmother's ears -- NIN, Tom Waits, and King Crimson aren't music to my Grandmother's ears -- but they're music to mine.

its a big misconception that john cage's 4:33 is silence.  its actually environmental sound.  sit quietly for 4 minutes and tell me if its silent.  nope.  that was the idea.  that there is music everywhere, in everything.  and i agree.

not a frank zappa fan but i think he defined music best:

"sound organized in time"

simple, true.

I agree with all of you. And I have to say that music is not only about what u hear, it's also about what u feel.
Vromb, Aphextwin, Autechre, etc. these guys dont just make u ears appreciate their "sounds" cuz they know that some of those sounds are really aggressive or attacking.

but, they make u feel something...


ps: as always, excuse my english  

but the rub is, whats noise to some is music to others.  i think masami akita (records under the name merzbow) is an extremely gifted and original musician.  though most people, including "open minded" musicians, often consider him just noise.  just as most people consider cages 4:33 silence, or worse yet, a joke.

or youre an unappreciated genious.  thats the beauty of it! there are what, 60 billion people in the world? whose to say that the club scene in your hometown defines music?  i know a lot of people that find japanese classical as utter nonsense.  but tell that to the japanese.  (yes i realise you were joking, i saw the winnky face im just making a point)

the dictionary definition that was mentioned ... "pleasant to the ear" ... or whatever it was exactly ... is utter nonsense because its subjective.  you cant have a subjective definition of something.  thats like defining trees as "pretty" ... its irrelevant.  

music is sound defined by its context.  imagine if you will, a small theater where someone is preforming cages 4:33.  inside the theater, those people are being treated to "music".  the sound of traffic outside, thier own breathing, etc.  its active listening in the context of music.  now imagine the people outside that theater.  same sounds, same traffic, thier own breathing, etc ... but because they are simply on thier way to the bar, thier listening is inactive and out of the musical context.  let me borrow an idea from cages chess partner marcel duchamp.  your in an art gallery.  you go to the restroom and use the urinal.  is that urinal art? no.  its a receptical for human waste.  you go out into the gallery to the duchamp exibit.  in the middle of the room is a urinal on a pedistal.  is that urinal art? yep.  becuase of the context.

give or take 54 billion ... my bad

Noise is defined as any unwanted sound.  Music is any pleasant sound.

One mans trash is another mans treasure.
When my daughter was born her crying was music to me.
Now my daughter's laugh is music to my ears.  Maybe my playing is noise to the neighbors but it is music to me and my family.  It is all very subjective.

I stand by my original quote made many years ago. 

Yes, and what your ears paint as a picture, relates to how all the members handle things. Your filling in the beat and their filling in the final outcome and surroundings. What you all paint will determine how the listening and watching audience will interpret that picture. It can lead to love, understanding, discussion, and even war. I like a set that colors in that picture. Both in looks and sound. Works for me!   

Definitely!  Albeit in a nontraditional sense.


I don't say those two examples (or any example for that matter) isn't music because they meet my definition (which is pretty much any sounds), but I certainly agree that there's lots of music that I can't deal with at all.