I came back to this question because throughout the whole class, this was the question we were trying to answer. Through our readings of 2 books and our class discussion, I think we are no closer to the answer than we were from the begging of the semester. Do not get me wrong, I learned some interesting things, and heard argument that put me on the fence about how I view music, and read some theories that I agreed with. I just think for questions like these, the answer is as many as there are people on the earth. There is no right or wrong answer to this question, music is whatever you deem it to be. If you think music is purely cognitive then let that be your answer to what is music, if you believe it is purely emotional, then let music play your emotions, if you think music is what it is, hey! no argument here. I think if a person has an answer to the question "what is music?" and is able to back it up with a logical explanation, then let them hold that truth.
To me music is something special. It is composed of many elements, and can be viewed as a work of art. I believe music does speak to the body, mind and soul and is a great way to express ourselves. Music lives through people and people live through music. Music is a memory trigger for events of the past and a social network medium that brings people together. I do believe, however, that music is losing its essence because people stop using music as a way to express themselves and only use it as a way to get rich and entertain. Music is dying as the business aspect of it is flourishing. The only way to get the true essence of music is to give it back its real purpose, to make it express who we are and where we've been. Music is a vital part of my life, and you don't have to agree with my definition of music, this is just music through my eyes. SO since the semester is over and we've discussed music so in depth...what is music to you?
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2 comments:
Harmony, have you seen my website What is Music?
In the long run there can't be seven billion theories about music any more than there can be seven billion theories about gravity. It's just that, so far, science doesn't have a whole lot to say about what music is, so everyone is free to have their own opinion and not have it contradicted by an official scientific theory.
There can be seven billion theories about gravity, but the best theory gives us the deepest understanding and stays consistent and true at all levels of abstraction. Scientific observations can give us the grounding to theorize from. One needs to use these observations along with sound and cogent arguments to construct a decent theory. Otherwise science will just give us a bunch of meaningless data.
Of course, more than one description of music can be true. The best theory about a concept contain the most internally consistent and observationally true descriptions.
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