Music

Definitions

• Denotation of Music: Defined as vocal and/or instrumental sounds combined in such a way to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression.
• Book Definition of Music: Music is a shifting subset of sounds that assume particular properties depending on one’s orientation to them.

When does sound become music?

• Whether or not sound is music depends entirely on its function and the subjective experience of the listener.

Would you consider this music?

Is music only for humans?

• Song in the style of the Beatles, composed entirely by artificial intelligence:

Things we discussed in class:

• Is an essential component of music removed if it is composed by an artificial intelligence? Most people seemed to think so, because the AI is simply mimicking humans. The emotion and “feeling” in the song does not seem legitimate if it is not made by a human. This may not matter in the future, however, because AI will probably be utilized to regularly pump out songs for the radio.
• Can a song be considered “music” if it is weaponized and used to hurt somebody (the example we discussed being music used for torture)? Is it really “music” for the person it is hurting, or is it just sound at that point?
• Music is correlated and integral to the systematization of of science. Many theorists states this idea due to the fact that music instrumentalized science. Many people didn’t understand this idea but after pitches were identified, assigned visual symbols, and inscribed in a graphical formation it helped individuals understand.
• Music is omnipresent just as sound is omnipresent. Music draws attention through its own mediation through its forms of performance and reception.