What is Music?

What is music? According to Websters II: New Riverside University Dictionary, music is the art of
arranging tones in an orderly sequence so as to produce a unifed and continuous composition. In
simple words, music is organized sound. In reality, music does not have any one concrete
meaning. Music has diferent meanings for diferent people. Music is unique in each persons life. To
a musician, music is their life. They eat, breathe, and live music. Music is their passion. For others,
music is a hobby, a pastime. Music is something that arouses interest and is pleasurable. The casual
fan may learn about music, how to read music, how to sing, or how to play an instrument, but they do
not have the all encompassing passion a musician possesses. Music is a means of relaxation for
some, while others simply enjoy listening to the sounds, melodies, and rhythms that music brings to
their ears, minds, and hearts.
The following defnitions are taken from an article that defnes music according to diferent
perspectives.
Music is science
It is exact, specifc: and it demands exact acoustics. A conductors full score is a chart, a graph which
indicates frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody, and harmony all at once and with the
most exact control of time.
Music is mathematical
It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of time into fractions which must be done, not worked out
on paper.
Music is a foreign language
Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French; and the notation is certainly not English; but a
highly developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics of music is
the most complete and universal language.
Music is history
Music usually refects the environment and times of its creations, often even the country and/or racial
feeling.
Music is physical education
It requires fantastic coordination of fnger, hands, arms, lip, cheek, and facial muscles, in addition to
extraordinary control of the diaphragmatic back, stomach, and chest muscles, which respond instantly
to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.
Music is all these things, but most of all.
Music is art
It allows a human being to take all these elements and techniques and use them to create feelings or
emotion.
Source: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~syverson/worldsfair/exhibits/hall2/yoshimura/music.htm