The definition of music is a contested evaluation of what constitutes music and varies through history, geography, and within societies. Definitions vary as music, like art, is a subjectively perceived phenomenon. Its definition has been tackled by philosophers, lexicographers, composers, teachers, semioticians or semiologists, linguists, scientists, and musicians. For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... Look up definition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the philosophical concept of Art. ... For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ... The pursuit of lexicography is divided into two related disciplines: Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... For university teachers, see professor. ... Semiotics, semiotic studies, or semiology is the study of signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems. ... Linguistics is the scientific study of language, which can be theoretical or applied. ... For a List of scientists, see: List of anthropologists List of astronomers List of biologists List of chemists List of computer scientists List of economists List of engineers List of geologists List of inventors List of mathematicians List of meteorologists List of physicists Scientist pairs List of scientist pairs See... “Instrumentalist” redirects here. ...

Music may defined according to various criteria including organization, pleasantness, intent, social construction, perceptual processes and engagement, universal aspects or family resemblances, and through contrast or negative definition.

The term "music"

Etymology

The word music comes from the Greek mousikê (tekhnê) by way of the Latin musica. It is ultimately derived from mousa, the Greek word for muse. In ancient Greece, the word mousike was used to mean any of the arts or sciences governed by the Muses. Later, in Rome, ars musica embraced poetry as well as instrument-oriented music. In the European Middle Ages, musica was part of the mathematical quadrivium - arithmetics, geometry, astronomy and musica. The concept of musica was split into three major kinds by the fifth century philosopher, Boethius: musica universalis, musica humana, and musica instrumentalis. Of those, only the last - musica instrumentalis - referred to music as performed sound. For other uses see Muse (disambiguation). ... This article is about the art form. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... The quadrivium comprised the four subjects taught in medieval universities after the trivium. ... Arithmetic tables for children, Lausanne, 1835 Arithmetic or arithmetics (from the Greek word αριθμός = number) is the oldest and most elementary branch of mathematics, used by almost everyone, for tasks ranging from simple day-to-day counting to advanced science and business calculations. ... Calabi-Yau manifold Geometry (Greek γεωμετρία; geo = earth, metria = measure) is a part of mathematics concerned with questions of size, shape, and relative position of figures and with properties of space. ... For other uses, see Astronomy (disambiguation). ... Musica universalis or music of the spheres is a medieval philosophical concept that regards the proportions in the movements of the celestial bodies - the Sun, Moon and planets - as a form of musica (the medieval Latin name for music). ... This article needs cleanup. ...

Musica universalis or musica mundana referred to the order of the universe, as God had created it in "measure, number and weight". The proportions of the spheres of the planets and stars (which at the time were still thought to revolve around the earth) were perceived as a form of music, without necessarily implying that any sound would be heard - music refers strictly to the mathematical proportions. From this concept later resulted the romantic idea of a music of the spheres. Musica universalis or music of the spheres is a medieval philosophical concept that regards the proportions in the movements of the celestial bodies - the Sun, Moon and planets - as a form of musica (the medieval Latin name for music). ... For other uses, see Universe (disambiguation). ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... A sphere is a symmetrical geometrical object. ... Sound is a disturbance of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a wave. ...

Musica humana designated the proportions of the human body. These were thought to reflect the proportions of the Heavens and as such, to be an expression of god's greatness. To Medieval thinking, all things were connected with each other - a mode of thought that finds its traces today in the occult sciences or esoteric thought - ranging from astrology to believing certain minerals have certain beneficiary effects. Physical Features of the Human Body The human body is the entire physical structure of a human organism. ... Hand-coloured version of the anonymous Flammarion woodcut (1888). ... Minerals are natural compounds formed through geological processes. ...

Musica instrumentalis, finally, was the lowliest of the three disciplines and referred to the manifestation of those same mathematical proportions in sound - be it sung or played on instruments. The polyphonic organization of different melodies to sound at the same time was still a relatively new invention then, and it is understandable that the mathematical or physical relationships in frequency that give rise to the musical intervals as we hear them, should be foremost among the preoccupations of Medieval musicians. This article needs cleanup. ... For other uses, see Frequency (disambiguation). ... In music theory, an interval is the difference (a ratio or logarithmic measure) in pitch between two notes and often refers to those two notes themselves (otherwise known as a dyad). ...

Translations

The languages of many cultures do not include a word for or that would be translated as music. Inuit and most North American Indian languages do not have a general term for music, and in Africa there is no term for music in Tiv, Yoruba, Igbo, Efik, Birom, Hausa, Idoma, Eggon or Jarawa. Many other languages have terms which only partly cover what Europeans mean by the term music (Schafer). The Mapuche of Argentina do not have a word for music, but they do have words for instrumental versus improvised forms (kantun), European and non-Mapuche music (kantun winka), ceremonial songs (öl), and tayil (Robertson 1976: 39). For other uses, see Inuit (disambiguation). ... A Sioux in traditional dress including war bonnet, circa 1908. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... The Tiv language is spoken by around 2 million people in Nigeria, with a few speakers in Cameroon. ... Yoruba (native name èdè Yorùbá, the Yoruba language) is a dialect continuum of West Africa with over 22 million speakers. ... Igbo is a language spoken in Nigeria by around 18 million people (1999 WA), the Igbo, especially in the southeastern region once identified as Biafra. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Hausa is the Chadic language with the largest number of speakers, spoken as a first language by about 24 million people, and as a second language by about 15 million more. ... Idoma is an ethno-linguistic group of Nigeria. ... Eggon (also Egon, Ero, Mo Egon, Hill Mada, or Mada Eggon) is one of the Benue-Congo languages spoken in Nigeria. ... Jarawa can mean either of two groups of people: The Jarawa, an isolated people native to the Andaman Islands. ... Mapuche test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator Mapuche (Mapudungun; Che, People + Mapu, of the Land) are the Indigenous inhabitants of Central and Southern Chile and Southern Argentina. ...

In Czech, hudba is instrumental music and only by implication vocal music. Some languages in West Africa have no term for music but the speakers do have the concept (Nettl, 1989). Vocal music is music performed by one or more singers, with or without non-vocal instrumental accompaniment, in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. ...

Musiqi is the Persian word for the science and art of music, muzik being the sound and performance of music (Sakata 1983), though some things European influenced listeners would include, such as Quran chanting, are excluded. Actually, there are varying degrees of "musicness"; Quran chanting and Adhan is not considered music, but classical improvised song, classical instrumental metric composition, and popular dance music are. However, from a European influenced musicological analysis, or from the standpoint of an untrained European influenced listener, Quran chanting is structurally similar to classical singing (Nettl, 1989). In Pakistan the history begins with classical music, but youngsters gravitate towards pop music. “Farsi” redirects here. ... The Quran (Arabic al-qurʾān أَلْقُرآن; also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... Adhan (Azaan) (أَذَان) is the Islamic call to prayer, recited by the muezzin. ...

Definitions

As organized sound

An oft cited definition of music, made by Wynton Marsalis among others, is that it is "sound organized in time." The fifteenth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica describes that "while there are no sounds that can be described as inherently unmusical, musicians in each culture have tended to restrict the range of sounds they will admit." Michael Linton, took the definition a step further to add that the form in which music is organized is an important element of the music itself. His definition of music is "the organization of sound and silence into forms that carry culturally derived meanings, cultivated for aesthetic or utilitarian purposes". Wynton Learson Marsalis (b. ...

"Organization" also seems necessary because it implies purposeful and thus human organization. This human organizing element seems crucial to the common understanding of music. Sounds produced by non-human agents, such as waterfalls or birds, are often described as "musical", but rarely as "music". See zoomusicology. Zoomusicology is a field of musicology and zoology or more specifically, zoosemiotics. ...

This definition determines music according to the poetic and the neutral levels (it must be composed sonorities), or more aesthetically, 'the artful or pleasing organization of sound and silence', which determines music according to the esthesic. This definition is widely held to from the late 19th century forward, which began to scientifically analyze the relationship between sound and perception. This article is about the philosophical concept of Art. ... Silence is a relative or total lack of sound. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... In psychology and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information. ...

Additionally, Schaeffer (1968: 284) describes that the sound of classical music "has decays; it is granular; it has attacks; it fluctuates, swollen with impurities—and all this creates a musicality that comes before any 'cultural' musicality." Yet the definition according to the esthesic level does not allow that the sounds of classical music are complex, are noises, rather they are regular, periodic, even, musical sounds. Nattiez (1990, p.47-8): "My own position can be summarized in the following terms: just as music is whatever people choose to recognize as such, noise is whatever is recognized as disturbing, unpleasant, or both." (see "music as social construct" below)

As communication

The definition of music as organized sound indicates that music may be defined as a form of communication through sound. Human beings also use sound to communicate through speech. Other species, such as whales and dolphins, communicate by sounds. For example wolves howl and singing birds know melodies. What speech is good for is very clear: we use it to communicate our thoughts to our fellow humans ( also in written form). But why do humans need music? Every single human being, male or female, handicapped or not, young or old, has a desire to sing and dance and to listen to music, just like everybody has a desire for food and drink, for sex and sleep. Humanity uses music to express and convey feelings and to develop a feeling of togetherness. Different social groups have their own songs that give them an identity: the socialists have the socialist international, soccer and football clubs have their songs, nations have anthems. Music may express sadness, love, loneliness, happiness and so on and so convey those feelings to other people. Some languages in Africa and the Chinese language have a melody to differ between meanings , thus the border between music/melody and speech only is not always clear. Music consists of rhythm and melody, dancing goes according to the rhythm and singing according to the melody. Until the beginning of the 20th century music was closely linked with religion and church festivals, and our grandparents got to know their life/marriage partners not like contemporary people on the internet or in a discotheque, but at wedding parties with dancing and music or at religious music events like thanksgiving. Ever since the stone age the best dancers and singers were favoured by the opposite gender. The invention of the record and the gramophone made it possible for the first time to reach out to a wider audience and made possible the rise of world stars like the Beatles. The invention of the walkman made it possible to listen to music without sharing it with others. The internet enables amateurs to share music and music videos with a worldwide public and even to earn money with it.

As language

Many definitions of music implicitly hold that music is a communicative activity which conveys to the listener moods, emotions, thoughts, impressions, or philosophical, sexual, or political concepts or positions. "Musical language" may be used to mean style or genre, while music may be treated as language without being called such, as in Fred Lerdahl or others' analysis of musical grammar. Levi R. Bryant defines music not as a language, but as a marked-based, problem-solving method such as mathematics (Ashby 2004, p.4). Fred Lerdahl, Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University, is a composer and music theorist, best known for his work on pitch space and cognitive constraints on compositional systems or musical grammars. ... For the rules of English grammar, see English grammar and Disputes in English grammar. ...

Because of its ability to communicate, music is sometimes described as the "universal language". Yet the "meaning" of music is obviously culturally mediated. For example, in Western society, minor chords are often perceived as "sad", an understanding other cultures rarely share.

There is significant complexity in the structural elements of music which warrant the perception of music as a language. For example, genres of music can be characterized by the manner in which sound and silence are articulated, organized, and disseminated. The composition of these elements gives rise to a system which is on par with the complexities and subtleties of 'language'.

See also: Musical language

This article needs cleanup. ...

As subjective experience

Main article: Aesthetics of music

Another commonly held definition of music holds that music must be 'pleasant' (determined by the esthesic level) or 'melodic' (determined by the neutral and/or esthesic levels). This view is often used to argue that some kinds of organized sound 'are not music', while others are, based on type of organization or its aesthetic effect. Since the range of what is accepted as music varies from culture to culture and from time to time, more elaborate versions of this definition admit some kind of cultural or social evolution of music, granting that definitions may vary but universals hold. This definition was the predominant one in the 18th century, where, for example, Mozart stated that "music must never forget itself, it must never cease to be music." One example of shifts in the music/noise dichotomy, what organization is considered musical, is the emancipation of the dissonance, while Luciano Berio (1976) describes how the Tristan chord was noise in 1859 since it was a sonority unexplainable by contemporary harmonic conventions. The aesthetics of music or musical aesthetics is the quality and study of the beauty and enjoyment (plaisir and jouissance), the aesthetics, of music. ... Look up Melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary In music, a melody is a series of linear events or a succession, not a simultaneity as in a chord. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... “Mozart” redirects here. ... The emancipation of the dissonance was a concept or goal put forth by Arnold Schoenberg and others, including his pupil Anton Webern, composer of atonal music and the inventor of the twelve tone technique. ... The Tristan chord is a chord made up of the notes F, B, D# and G#. More generally, it can be any chord that consists of these same intervals, viz. ...

This view of music is most heavily criticized by proponents of the view that music is a social construction (directly below), defined in opposition to "unpleasant" "noise", though this view may be subsumed in the one below in that a listener's idea of pleasant sounds may be considered socially constructed.

A subjective definition of music need not, however, be limited to traditional ideas of music as pleasant or melodious. Luciano Berio defined music as, "everything one listens to with the intention of listening to music." This approach to the definition focuses not on the construction but on the experience of music. Thus, music could include "found" sound structures--produced by natural phenomena or algorithms--as long as they are interpreted by means of the aesthetic cognitive processes involved in music appreciation. This approach permits the boundary between music and noise to change over time as the conventions of musical interpretation evolve within a culture, to be different in different cultures at any given moment, and to vary from person to person according to their experience and proclivities. It is further consistent with the subjective reality that even what would commonly be considered music is experienced as noise if the mind is concentrating on other matters and thus not consuming the sound as music.

See also: extreme music.

This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

As social construct

Main article: Ethnomusicology

Post-modern and other theories argue that, like all art, music is defined primarily by social context. According to this view, music is what people call music, whether it is a period of silence, found sounds, or performance. Cage, Kagel, Schnebel, and others, according to Nattiez (p.43), "perceive [certain of their pieces] (even if they do not say so publicly) as a way of "speaking" in music about music, in the second degree, as it were, to expose or denounce the institutional aspect of music's functioning." Ethnomusicology (from the Greek ethnos = nation and mousike = music), formerly comparative musicology, is the study of music in its cultural context, cultural musicology. ... Postmodernism (sometimes abbreviated pomo) is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ... Social refers to human society or its organization. ... Silence is a relative or total lack of sound. ... Found art, or more commonly and less confusingly, Found Object (French: objet trouvé) is a term used to describe art created from common objects not normally considered to be artistic (also assemblage). ... Buskers perform in San Francisco A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which one group of people (the performer or performers) behave in a particular way for another group of people (the audience). ...

Cultural background is a factor in determining music from noise or unpleasant experiences. The experience of only being exposed to a particular type of music influences perception of any music. Cultures of European descent are largely influenced by music making use of the Diatonic scale. Most modern music still uses this scale and due to constant exposure, the music of other cultures is not held with the same regard. What would be accepted as music in Indonesia may be dismissed by many westerners as just "a din." In music theory, a diatonic scale (from the Greek diatonikos, to stretch out; also known as the heptatonia prima; set form 7-35) is a seven-note musical scale comprising five whole-tone and two half-tone steps, in which the half tones are maximally separated. ...

It might be added that as well as cultural background, historical era is also a determining factor in what is regarded as music. What would today be accepted as music in the west without the blinking of an eye, would have been ridiculed in the 17th century. And what would be music to The Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious, who is said to have commented, "you just pick a chord, go twang, and you've got music," would almost certainly not have been music to William Congreve, who wrote that, "Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Beast" (The Mourning Bride, 1697). All of which is to say that there can be no absolute definition of music that will be accepted by everybody. (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... The Sex Pistols in 1977. ... For the professional wrestler, see Sid Eudy. ... William Congreve (January 24, 1670 – January 19, 1729) was an English playwright and poet. ...

Many people do, however, share a general idea of music. The Websters definition of music is a typical example: "the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity" (Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, online edition). There are a number of potential objections to such a definition.

While some may find this definition too restrictive, arguing that "unity" and "continuity" are unnecessary, it is likely that more will find it too broad, thinking of music as being made of pitched sounds, and containing melody, harmony and rhythm. The idea that music must contain these elements is widespread, but there are several examples of what would be widely regarded as music, which lack one or more of them. Plainsong for instance, or monophonic music in general, has no harmony. Much percussion music lacks both harmony and melody; it is true that drums are tuned, but their pitches are indefinite, and they cannot be said to produce a melody in the traditional sense. If one takes rhythm to mean a regular pulse underpinning music, then many kinds of modern electronic music can be said to lack rhythm. Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Harmony is the use and study of pitch simultaneity, and therefore chords, actual or implied, in music. ... Rhythm (Greek = flow, or in Modern Greek, style) is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events. ... Broadly speaking, plainsong is the name given to the body of traditional songs used in the liturgies of the Catholic Church. ... “Percussion” redirects here. ... Bass drum made from wood, rope, and cowskin A drum is a musical instrument in the percussion group that can be large, technically classified as a membranophone. ... For other uses, see Electronic music (disambiguation). ...

Some attempts to define music concentrate on the method of producing it. Even though some of the first "instruments" in prehistory must have been rocks and bits of wood, it is only in the past one hundred years or so that the idea that music could only be produced by a singer or a traditional musical instrument (such as a violin in Europe, a sitar in India or a koto in Japan) has been challenged. Erik Satie challenged what constituted a musical instrument, and therefore a musical sound, when he wrote the ballet Parade which included a part for a typewriter. His justification was that since the typewriter made a noise, it was a musical instrument. In a lighter vein, Leroy Anderson also wrote music that included a manual typewriter, played with strict rhythm. The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. ... Diagram of some sitar parts. ... Japanese 13-stringed koto The koto (箏 or 琴) is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument derived from Chinese zithers. ... Selfportrait of Erik Satie. ... The Best of Leroy Anderson: Sleigh Ride Leroy Anderson (June 29, 1908 – May 18, 1975) was best known as an American composer of short, light concert music pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. ...

The composer John Cage challenged traditional ideas about music in his 4' 33", which is notated as three movements, each marked Tacet (that is, "do not play"). The implication, as expanded upon by Cage himself, is that the background noises which are normally a distraction from the music (the humming of the lights, the shuffling of the audience, the sound of traffic outside) are to be regarded as the actual music in this case. For the Mortal Kombat character, see Johnny Cage. ... The three movements of 4′33″. 4′33″ is an experimental musical work[1][2] by avant-garde composer John Cage. ...

This is contrary to the usual view that music is, if nothing else, deliberate. Furthermore, Cage does not state the length of the piece - the duration of the first performance (given by David Tudor seated at a piano) was arrived at by consulting the I Ching, but it is not stated in the score (although whenever the piece is performed nowadays, the original duration is usually maintained). Some people deal with the challenges posed by 4' 33" by simply refusing to consider it as music. David Eugene Tudor (January 20, 1926 - August 13, 1996) was a pianist and composer of experimental music. ... A short grand piano, with the top up. ... Alternative meaning: I Ching (monk) The I Ching (Traditional Chinese: 易經, pinyin y jīng; Cantonese IPA: jɪk6gɪŋ1; Cantonese Jyutping: jik6ging1; alternative romanizations include I Jing, Yi Ching, Yi King) is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. ... The three movements of 4′33″. 4′33″ is an experimental musical work[1][2] by avant-garde composer John Cage. ...

Of course, even in conventional music, the "silent" gaps between notes are part of the music. The pianist Artur Schnabel, when asked what made him a great pianist, said "The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes? Ah, that is where the art resides!" In Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 45, Farewell, the entire composition anticipates the silence at the end as the musicians one by one stop playing and walk from the stage. Artur Schnabel (April 17, 1882 – August 15, 1951) was a classical pianist, who also composed and taught. ... “Haydn” redirects here. ... Symphony No. ...

The American composer La Monte Young took this line of thought to an extreme by suggesting that even sound itself was not necessary for a piece of music to exist. In Composition 1960 #5, one of a series of similar pieces, he instructed the performer to "Turn a butterfly (or any number of butterflies) loose in the performance area," the piece being considered complete when the butterflies have flown away. The choice of a butterfly is significant in that it is perceived as a silent animal. During the performance, there will be background noises, just as there are in a performance of 4' 33", but this is not the thrust of the piece. Rather, Young is interested in the theatrical element of music. La Monte Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer whose eccentric and often hard-to-find works have been included among the most important post World War II avant-garde or experimental music. ... Sound is a disturbance of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a wave. ... Superfamilies and families Superfamily Hedyloidea: Hedylidae Superfamily Hesperioidea: Hesperiidae Superfamily Papilionoidea: Papilionidae Pieridae Nymphalidae Lycaenidae Riodinidae A butterfly is an insect of the order Lepidoptera. ...

Young's point in this instance is that when one goes to a performance of a piece of music, seeing the musicians perform is as much a part of the music as hearing them, so why not remove the hearing element altogether? In this sense, his interest is similar to that of Mauricio Kagel, who carefully notates the theatrical element of performance in his works (although he usually maintains a significant sonic element also). Mauricio Kagel (born Buenos Aires, December 24, 1931) is an Argentine composer who has lived in Germany for most of his career. ...

As a category of perception

Main articles: Music cognition and Music psychology

Less commonly held is the cognitive definition of music, which argues that music is not merely the sound, or the perception of sound, but a means by which perception, action and memory are organized. This definition is influential in the cognitive sciences, which search to locate the regions of the brain responsible for parsing or remembering different aspects of musical experience. This definition would include dance. The Boulangers established a school of thought centered around this concept which included the idea of eurhythmics, which is gesture guided by music. Music cognition is an interdisciplinary field involving such disparate areas as cognitive science, music theory, psychology, musicology, neuroscience, computer science, philosophy, psychoacoustics, etc. ... Music psychology, or the psychology of music, may be regarded either as a branch of psychology or as a branch of musicology. ... Cognitive science is usually defined as the scientific study either of mind or of intelligence (e. ... For other uses, see Brain (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Dance (disambiguation). ... Several notable persons have been named Boulanger: Look up boulanger in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

As musical universals

Main article: Aspect of music

Often a definition of music lists the aspects or elements that make up music under that definition (see Definition of music#As musical universals). However, in addition to a lack of consensus, Jean Molino (1975: 43) also points out that "any element belonging to the total musical fact can be isolated, or taken as a strategic variable of musical production." Nattiez gives as examples Mauricio Kagel's Con Voce [with voice], where a masked trio silently mimes playing instruments. In this example sound, a common element, is excluded, while gesture, a less common element, is given primacy. In classical music of the common practice period, for instance, melody and harmony are often considered to be given more importance at the expense of rhythm and timbre. John Cage considers duration the primary aspect of music as, being the temporal aspect of music, it is the only aspect common to both "sound" and "silence". An aspect of music is any characteristic, dimension, or element taken as a part or component of music. ... The definition of music is a contested evaluation of what constitutes music and varies through history, geography, and within societies. ... Jean Molino is professeur ordinaire at the University of Lausanne and a semiologist. ... Mauricio Kagel (born Buenos Aires, December 24, 1931) is an Argentine composer who has lived in Germany for most of his career. ... In music the common practice period is a long period in western musical history spanning from before the classical era proper to today, dated, on the outside, as 1600-1900. ... For the Mortal Kombat character, see Johnny Cage. ...

The categorization of what is and isn't music through definition or universal aspects dates back to Aristotle. Anything up for consideration as music is compared to the category definition of music through analysis of and comparison of their properties. Ludwig Wittgenstein however questioned this hypothesis for category formation by noting that for any universal aspect proposed for the category "game" an example which does not share that aspect may be found. He proposed that categorization is by family resemblance and not definition. Turned, by Wittgenstein, from philosophy to cognitive psychiatry Eleanor Rosch proposes that categories are not clean cut but that something may be more or less a member of a category. As such the search for musical universals would fail and would not provide one with a valid definition. (Levitin 2006, p.136-139) For Wikipedias categorization projects, see Wikipedia:Categorization. ... Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (IPA: ) (April 26, 1889 in Vienna, Austria – April 29, 1951 in Cambridge, England) was an Austrian philosopher who contributed several ground-breaking ideas to philosophy, primarily in the foundations of logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of mind. ... Eleanor Rosch is a professor of psychology at The University of California, Berkeley. ...

Specific definitions

Nattiez's tripartite definition

"Music, often an art/entertainment, is a total social fact whose definitions vary according to era and culture," according to Jean Molino.¹ It is often contrasted with noise. According to musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez: "The border between music and noise is always culturally defined—which implies that, even within a single society, this border does not always pass through the same place; in short, there is rarely a consensus.... By all accounts there is no single and intercultural universal concept defining what music might be."² This article is about the philosophical concept of Art. ... A stilt-walker entertaining shoppers at a shopping centre in Swindon, England Entertainment is an event, performance, or activity designed to give pleasure or relaxation to an audience (although, for example, in the case of a computer game the audience may be only one person). ... In positivist sociology, a social fact is an abstraction external to the individual which constrains that individuals actions. ... An era is a long period of time with different technical and colloquial meanings, and usages in language. ... For other uses, see Culture (disambiguation). ... Jean Molino is professeur ordinaire at the University of Lausanne and a semiologist. ... Environmental Noise is unwanted sound, which may cause both nuisance and damage to health. ... Jean-Jacques Nattiez is a musical semiologist or semiotician and professor of Musicology at the University of Montreal. ...

Given the above demonstration that "there is no limit to the number or the genre of variables that might intervene in a definition of the musical,"³ an organization of definitions and elements is necessary.

Nattiez⁴ describes definitions according to a tripartite semiological scheme similar to the following: This article discusses the number three. ...

There are three levels of description, the poietic, the neutral, and the esthesic:

• " By 'poietic' I understand describing the link among the composer's intentions, his creative procedures, his mental schemas, and the result of this collection of strategies; that is, the components that go into the work's material embodiment. Poietic description thus also deals with a quite special form of hearing (Varese called it 'the interior ear'): what the composer hears while imagining the work's sonorous results, or while experimenting at the piano, or with tape."
• "By 'esthesic' I understand not merely the artificially attentive hearing of a musicologist, but the description of perceptive behaviors within a given population of listeners; that is how this or that aspect of sonorous reality is captured by their perceptive strategies." (Nattiez 1990:90)
• The neutral level is that of the physical "trace", (Saussere's sound-image, a sonority, a score), created and interpreted by the esthesic level (which corresponds to a perceptive definition; the perceptive and/or "social" construction definitions below) and the poietic level (which corresponds to a creative, as in compositional, definition; the organizational and social construction definitions below).

Table describing types of definitions of music:

(Nattiez 1990, p.46)

Because of this range of definitions, the study of music comes in a wide variety of forms. There is the study of sound and vibration or acoustics, the cognitive study of music, the study of music theory and performance practice or music theory and ethnomusicology and the study of the reception and history of music, generally called musicology. Oscillation is the variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. ... Acoustics is a branch of physics and is the study of sound (mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids). ... Music theory is a field of study that investigates the nature or mechanics of music. ... Ethnomusicology (from the Greek ethnos = nation and mousike = music), formerly comparative musicology, is the study of music in its cultural context, cultural musicology. ... Musicology (Greek: μουσικη = music and λογος = word or reason) is the scholarly study of music. ...

Xenakis's definition

Composer Iannis Xenakis in Towards a Metamusic (1970, p.3) defined music as: Iannis Xenakis Iannis Xenakis (Ιάννης Ξενάκης) (May 29, 1922 Brăila – February 4, 2001 Paris) was a Greek composer and architect who spent much of his life in Paris. ...

1. Firstly, a sort of comportment necessary for whoever thinks it and makes it.
2. An individual plemora, a realization.
3. A fixing in sound of imagined virtualities (cosmological, philosophical arguments ...)
4. It is normative, in other words unconsciously it is a model for being or for doing by sympathetic drive.
5. It is catalytic: its mere presence permits internal psychic or mental transformations in the same way as the crystal ball of the hypnotist.
6. It is the gratuitous play of a child.
7. It is a mystical (but atheistic) asceticism. Consequently expressions of sadness, joy, love and dramatic situations are only very limited particular instances.

Notes

1. Molino, 1975: 37
2. Nattiez, 1990: p.47-8,55
3. Molino, 1987: 42
4. derived from Nattiez, 1990: p. 17; see sign (semiotics)

In semiotics, a sign is generally defined as, ...something that stands for something else, to someone in some capacity. ...

Sources

• Molino, Jean (1975). "Fait musical et sémiologue de la musique", Musique en Jeu, no. 17:37-62.
• Nettl, Bruno (1989). Blackfoot Musical Thought: Comparative Perspectives. Ohio: The Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-87338-370-2
• Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1987). Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music (Musicologie générale et sémiologue, 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate (1990). ISBN 0-691-02714-5.
• Robertson-De Carbo, C. E. (1976). "Tayil as Category and Communication among the Argentine Mapuche: A Methodological Suggestion", 1976 Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council, 8, p.35-42. cited in Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1987).
• Sakata, Lorraine (1983). Music in the Mind, The Concepts of Music and Musicians in Afghanistan. Kent: Kent State University Press. cited in Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1987).
• R. Murray Schafer. "Music and the Soundscape," included in Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music, ISBN 0-02-864581-2.
• Ashby, Arved, ed. (2004). "Introduction", The Pleasure of Modernist Music. ISBN 1-58046-143-3.
• Levitin, Daniel J. (2006). This Is Your Brain on Music. ISBN 0525949630.

Jean Molino is professeur ordinaire at the University of Lausanne and a semiologist. ... Bruno Nettl is a musicologist and ethnomusicologist. ... Raymond Murray Schafer (b. ...

See also

v • d • e Music
History	Ancient music · Medieval music · Renaissance music · Baroque music · Classical music · Romantic music · 20th century music · Contemporary music
Composition	Musical notation · Musical improvisation · Music theory
Education	Music history · Musicology · Ethnomusicology · Music cognition  · Music therapy
Production	Music genre · Album · Song · Suite · Lyrics · Record label · Record producer · Musician · Composer · Musical form · Compilation album
Lists	Basic Topics · Topics · Terminology · Musical forms
Miscellaneous	Definition of music · Music theory · Musical instrument · Music and politics · Music and mathematics · Music industry
Category · Portal · Project

For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... For the academic study of history of music, see Music history. ... Ancient music is music that developed in literate cultures, replacing prehistoric music. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 to 1600. ... Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 and 1750. ... The Classical period in Western music occurred from about 1750 to 1820, despite considerable overlap at both ends with preceding and following periods, as is true for all musical eras. ... The era of Romantic music is defined as the period of European classical music that runs roughly from the early 1800s to the first decade of the 20th century, as well as music written according to the norms and styles of that period. ... A revolution occurred in 20th century music listening as the radio gained popularity worldwide, and new media and technologies were developed to record, capture, reproduce and distribute music. ... In the broadest sense, contemporary music is any music being written in the present day. ... Image File history File links GClef. ... Musical composition is a phrase used in a number of contexts, the most commonly used being a piece of music. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Musical improvisation is the spontaneous creative process of making music while it is being performed. ... Music theory is a field of study that investigates the nature or mechanics of music. ... A History of Western Music Seventh Edition by J. Peter Burkholder, Donald J. Grout, and Claude V. Palisca is one of several popular books used to teach Music History in North America. ... Musicology (Greek: μουσικη = music and λογος = word or reason) is the scholarly study of music. ... Ethnomusicology (from the Greek ethnos = nation and mousike = music), formerly comparative musicology, is the study of music in its cultural context, cultural musicology. ... Music cognition is an interdisciplinary field involving such disparate areas as cognitive science, music theory, psychology, musicology, neuroscience, computer science, philosophy, psychoacoustics, etc. ... Music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a qualified professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... An album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. ... For other uses, see Song (disambiguation). ... In music, a suite is an organized set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed at a single sitting, as a separate musical performance, not accompanying an opera, ballet, or theater-piece. ... Lyrics are the words in songs. ... In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... “Instrumentalist” redirects here. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... The term musical form refers to two related concepts: the type of composition (for example, a musical work can have the form of a symphony, a concerto, or other generic type -- see Multi-movement forms below) the structure of a particular piece (for example, a piece can be written in... A compilation album is an album (music or spoken-word) featuring tracks from one or multiple recording artists, often culled from a variety of sources (such as studio albums, live albums, singles, demos and outtakes. ... Music is a human expression in the medium of time using the structures of sounds or tones and silence. ... This page aims to list articles related to music. ... This is a list of musical terms that are likely to be encountered in printed scores. ... A list of musical forms. ... Music theory is a field of study that investigates the nature or mechanics of music. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... There is a long history of the connection between music and politics, particularly political expression in music. ... Music theorists often use mathematics to understand musical structure and communicate new ways of hearing music. ... The music industry is the industry that creates, performs, promotes, and preserves music. ...

External links

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Definition of music

• What is Music? A brief sketch of some definitions found throughout history by Marcel Cobussen
• MusicNovatory.com The Science of Music, a generative music theory