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| The ancient instrument of self-contemplation, The Qin I had the pleasure of hearing this performed early in the semester by the Center for Chinese music and Culture, here at MTSU |
Music is often seen as a from of Artistic expression. In my eyes, music is a form of creative expression, and I use the word creative to throw of some of the subjective-ness of the word Artistic. Much like Art, Music can be judged liberally in terms of what is "Good" and what is "Bad" music.
The very "Subjective-ness," for lack of a better word that I could google, I like to use as an answer for many questions regarding music. If you take a small child who has only just began to play piano, and if you take a master virtuoso with over decades of experience what would happen? On one hand most would be impressed by the virtuoso, but what about the child who begged to his parents for months to play on the piano? In my eyes, passion is what separates music from mindless sound, and I would clap for both performers most likely. As a musician I applaud performances only under two conditions, If it was good or if it inspired me.
To answer my concluding question in my previous post, "Why do we feel an emotional response at all when we hear music?" I could say that it is simply subjective, that while you may listen to a melody and feel sad it is simply your opinion. Most musicians would accept this as answer to any question, "I did not like this performance because it was not pleasing to my tastes." And the conversation has thus been concluded, and if this answer was given by someone of prestige then sometimes that is the end of the conversation of the community itself.
The answer that I would give from that question, is one that would change constantly. My first response to that question was "Who cares, music is boring." My second answer would come much later, and it would come with several years of experience as someone who enjoys playing a musical instrument. The only way I can answer that question is if I sit down and play an enjoyable tune or melody.
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| Mayones' Guitars are made with the finest craftsmanship, My dream guitar would be something made by them |
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| Even in this room, Orfield Laboratories, Minnesota, where sound is measured at -0.9 decibels (Negative sound is an interesting thought) You can hear your own blood flowing through your veins |
When I play music, I think of music in different terms. I think of music as colors: The sound of a trumpet is Bright and it sits at red or orange, but the sound of a tuba would sit at blue or green (This is similar to a frequency chart where a trumpet would have higher frequencies with small sound waves, but a tuba would be the opposite). Some composers will write passages where the music will sound sad, but to the composer the intent of that same passage is one of power and dissonance.
Playing Piano on the drums for example, it would take a musician to think of that idea. In that way I am kind of biased, to me it goes full circle because I would call this "Subjective." I would say that music isn't something feel, but experience. Yet because we experience, we apply our human perception on top of that experience in order to define the event. Our reaction to Music could also be contributed to how our brains function with regards to endorphins and the like. I like to pick the more observable answer, I can sit in a Forrest and hear the "Sounds" of nature, but I can't listen to that video posted above and say "I am hearing the drums right now" unless I watch the video because I do not know that the sound being produced is not originating from a piano (technically I suppose I am not hearing the drums but I will leave that as an assumption).
Then again so is pretty much anything. I bet if Achilles was confined to a wheel chair he would have favored the idea that motion is impossible with regards to Zeno and Parmenides. I now wonder what Zeno would have said with regards to sound waves and vibration.
By my own logic I would have to assume that an earthquake is music, I suppose. An Earthquake is vibration, vibration is sound, I can hear the earth crack if crevice were to open up from the vibration, and I would most certainly experience an earthquake if it were to happen. It seems I too have gone full circle.
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| My favorite Album by Chon: "Grow" Perfect Pillow is a weird song. |
Link to my first Post:
Comments:
The video you included was pretty cool (from the description I didn't know what to expect). It almost felt like the sound was coming from the drums themselves at times, but the dissonance in the sound and what we know drums to sound like was odd.
ReplyDeleteI've always liked the subjectivity of what's considered music, as it's lead to many, many innovations in the industry. I think the only "music" I haven't considered music is where no effort was taken whatsoever in making it, like in John Cage's 4'33".