Music Is The Sounds And Lack Of Sounds Of A Musical Work

Jae Yun Professor Jonathan Beckett MUS 124 - 255W July 31, 2015 MUS124 Long Paper One of the basic ideas defining music is outlined in the Professor Michael B. Bakan’s second proposition: that the sounds and lack of sounds of a musical work are organized. Throughout the past years, many professors of ethnomusicology and music in general have attempted to define exactly what music is. Although there was and is a lot of discussion on the matter, most researchers began with the notion that music is essentially organized sound. However, there are cases where sounds are organized but humans do not consider them as music. Some of these instances include speech, poetry, and natural sounds. Due to this primitive and elementary basis that music is organized sound, researchers have attempted to create conditions or categories which music falls into. Despite the conflicting opinions on the different characteristics, I, along with most researchers, believe that although music is indeed a form of organized sounds and silences, this definition is too br oad to accurately define music. Every form of music we hear includes an organized framework in which sounds come together. Although music is organized sound, it can be argued that not all organized sound is music. For example, language and human speech consists of words, which essentially organized sounds. However, we do not consider a conversation between people as music. Another example is natural sound we hear from the environment.Show MoreRelatedEthnography of Performance Essay685 Words   |  3 Pages During a musical performance many elements to be looked are not easily recognized by the average critic. A musical performance has multiple interactions taking place between the music, text, performers, audience, and space that all can contribute to a great performance. 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