The Philosophy of Music

Why do we make music? Is music valuable? What is the nature of music? What even is music? Since humans have been around we have been creating music in one way or another. Why?

To understand music, one must first know what music is. Everyone knows a definition of music, but this definition may differ from person to person. Some may define music as "organized sound". But this may be too inclusive, as people speaking or animals calling can easily be classified as "organized sound". So we should be more specific. Music should have tonality and rhythm. Perhaps music should have some aesthetic value as well. So what happens when someone creates music that has no sound at all? John Cage is known for his interesting ideas of what music is and what music can be. He is famous for his piece titled 4'33". 4'33" is a piece of music that contains no notes and therefor no rhythm. 4'33" is not completely silent, however. The sounds of the environment, the shuffling of the performer, noises from the audience. These sounds are what make up the piece.

Listening to this video, you can clearly hear that it is far from silent. The piano is left unplayed, but there is sound. John Cage argues that "Everything we do is music." John Cage's idea of the definition of music is very different from the majority opinion.

It may be unsatisfying, but one cannot easily decide on a definition of music. For me personally, though, I'll say that music is organized sound, with rhythm, notes, and intention. And I would expect most readers to agree with my definition.





But why do we even bother? Why do people spend so much time making sounds? Music is a major part of everyday life for so many people, but why do we enjoy the sounds of music? These questions can lead outside the realm of philosophy and into the realm of psychoacoustics. This is a philosophy blog, not a psychoacoustics blog, so I won't go into much detail. I will, however, give you a definition of psychoacoustics. Psychoacoustics is defined as the study of how humans perceive audio, and the psychological responses to audio.

I'm sorry to tell you this, but we still don't know why we like music. Researchers in psychoacoustics have studied and experimented but we still don't know why music sounds good. So maybe this is a question more suited to philosophy. We do know that music causes dopamine to be released into the brain, cause a pleasure response. But we don't know why.

So we don't really know what music is or why we like it. Is it organized sound that makes our brain release the same chemicals it does when we have sex or eat chocolate? Maybe. Is it, as John Cage puts it, "everything"? Perhaps. I'm sorry I can't leave you with satisfying answers, but things like music don't tend to fit in neat little boxes.

Why do we make music? Because it sounds nice. Because it tells stories. Because it expands the mind. Because we feel like it.


Quiz questions:
What is John Cage's famous work?
What is one definition of music?
What is psychoacoustics?

Discussion questions:
How do you define music?
How does music make you feel?
Do you think John Cage's 4'33" is music? Why or why not?

Posts I commented on:
https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2019/12/pyrrhos-concept-we-know-nothing.html?showComment=1575709303522#c9172466245904690655

https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2019/11/what-is-art-final-blog-post-section-12.html?showComment=1575709160653#c1439541617324224591

Sources:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/music/
https://www.livescience.com/32473-why-do-we-love-music.html