This is not a discussion of the physics of sound. Nor is it a look at the psychoacoustics of music. (Though it may look like both at first).
Music is often defined as “organized sound.” What does that mean? A machine repeatedly whirring and clanking is “organized.” And the “random” saughing of wind in the trees can be heard as “musical.” Waves on the beach are organized by their periodic pulse; a dripping faucet by its regularity. It’s the regular repetition of a sound of short duration which we call a beat. And the very quick (for our ears above 20 cycles per second), sustained, regular repetition of a sound becomes what we experience as a tone, or note.
So, does music need to be organized, and if so, by whom or what? Need it only be in the ear of the artist, or the ear of the listener? Once, on BART, I experienced the sounds and rhythms of the train over the course of a half hour trip as a complete and wonderful suite for percussion. What is that?
I’m not going to say I have an answer. Neither am I saying that I don’t. But I do have a hint or two.
If I strip out the word “organized” and replace it with “intentional” then a shift occurs. It becomes the intention of the composer to organize sound. The intention in the listener turns simple hearing into a different kind of “listening.”
So, if we go with that for a moment, I can say that music starts with that quality of listening in the composer. That begins a process of presenting a collection of sounds which, through intention, are conveyed to the listener as music. It is the answering quality of listening with which the listener listens that receives those sounds as music.
But now there is another question: What is that intention? And where does it originate?
Music is often defined as “organized sound.” What does that mean? A machine repeatedly whirring and clanking is “organized.” And the “random” saughing of wind in the trees can be heard as “musical.” Waves on the beach are organized by their periodic pulse; a dripping faucet by its regularity. It’s the regular repetition of a sound of short duration which we call a beat. And the very quick (for our ears above 20 cycles per second), sustained, regular repetition of a sound becomes what we experience as a tone, or note.
So, does music need to be organized, and if so, by whom or what? Need it only be in the ear of the artist, or the ear of the listener? Once, on BART, I experienced the sounds and rhythms of the train over the course of a half hour trip as a complete and wonderful suite for percussion. What is that?
I’m not going to say I have an answer. Neither am I saying that I don’t. But I do have a hint or two.
If I strip out the word “organized” and replace it with “intentional” then a shift occurs. It becomes the intention of the composer to organize sound. The intention in the listener turns simple hearing into a different kind of “listening.”
So, if we go with that for a moment, I can say that music starts with that quality of listening in the composer. That begins a process of presenting a collection of sounds which, through intention, are conveyed to the listener as music. It is the answering quality of listening with which the listener listens that receives those sounds as music.
But now there is another question: What is that intention? And where does it originate?
