What Is Music?

Music is sound, but it's sound that's organized in a way that is not only interesting for our mind, but also affects our feelings and emotions. Physically, sound is made up of lots of invisible waves in the air. Although we can't see these waves, they're actually quite similar to the waves you find in water.

How do sound waves affect our ears? In the ear, there's a tight little membrane called the ear drum. The sound waves bounce off this, and our nerves sense the movement and transmit it to our brain.

Each second, there are thousands of waves arriving at our ears from wherever the source of the sound is. The ears respond, and the brain interprets. The only sound waves that are actually pleasant to listen to - and therefore have the quality that we call 'musicality' - are the ones that are rhythmically organized and have a regular frequency/vibration. Waves with a regular frequency will have a definite pitch.

By this definition, there's a lot of sound which can be called music. By way of demonstration:

If you get a small box or container (a large ice cream carton always works well) and wrap some elastic bands around it and pluck, you will be able to create enough regular vibrations to create a definite note or pitch. Similar pitch effects can be achieved with water in milk bottles, combs covered in tissue, and kitchen implements!

So it's quite easy to se the brain's involvement in musical interpretation. But more significantly, music has a strange quality that allows it to affect our feelings.

People can be intensely moved by music; they cry, laugh, experience intense feelings of sadness and happiness, for example. Anthems and military marches create pride and jubilation, and indeed motivation for soldiers entering battle.

Music reflects the society in which it is created, too. The music of the 18th and 19th century Royal Courts of Europe is full of pomp and grandeur, and early religious plainsong is deeply pious and devout. Folk music can often be heard providing vigour and vitality to those taking part, and Buddhist chant is nothing if not hypnotic.

We have begun to take a look at music by understanding not only how it was made, but also its qualities. Music is organized sound. It can come from any source. it can affect our minds and feelings, and often it reflects the culture of those who made it and played it.

Music involves relationships - the relationship between the composer and the performer, the performer and the listener, and all the relationships of these people with the sounds that are being created.

Like with Pythagorus' model, we as music listeners and musicians are related to each other as living, breathing beings subscribing to a natural rhythm... just as the parts of the universe that surround us are connected to each other to create a bigger, greater whole.

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