1a: 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
1b: vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony
There’s a few things that I take issue with this definition of music. Is a composition that does not have unity and continuity not music? What about music that lacks rhythm, melody or harmony? What is the definition of ‘melody’ or ‘harmony’?
Music is organized sound.
This definition is more broad and more encompassing because it does not make requirements on the sounds produced or way those sounds are organized.
Varese’s definition seems to be responding mostly to the mechanization of music production. He did not see music as “notes” or “chords”, but sounds which can be appreciated in their own right. Therefore his role as a composer was as an organizer of sounds, not someone who notates on staff paper for musicians to interpret.
If I programmed an algorithm to generate a one-million-hour audio mp3, is that music?
Compare both the above definitions to the definition of art:
Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts (artworks), expressing the author’s imaginative or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power.
The definition of art includes a requirement on the recipient of that art. Art must “…be appreciated for…”. I might take issue with the way that art should be appreciated according to this definition, or if, in fact, it has to be appreciated to be art.
My main point in contrasting these definitions, is that the definition of art mentions how it is received and what it strives to achieve, but the definition of music does not require such a thing, or even a listener at all.
Music, in contrast with other art forms seems to be thought of as more technical, defined by the techniques and not the outcome.
Take for example, the notation of a child music prodigy. A child prodigy refers a child who displays a talent in music deemed to make them competitive with skilled adult musicians. You will also find children with prodigious talents in mathematics and physics and other fields thought of as very technical. Much rarer is a 5-year-old acting prodigy, or a conceptual art prodigy.
Is that because music music (like mathematics) can be verified and quantified as accurate or correct?
…critical art strives, in Chantal Mouffe’s words, to “contribute to unsettling the dominant hegemony”…
As a form of critical art, critical music is critical in and of its own form. Not limited to discourse and beyond unquestioned forms of representation–critical music requires more than simply music “about” various issues–such an art must question its forms and their respective histories.
The above definitions of music mention “sound”.
In 1952, John Cage (1912–1992) composed 4’33”. The premiere of the three-movement 4’33” was given by David Tudor on August 29, 1952, in Woodstock, New York, as part of a recital of contemporary piano music. The audience saw him sit at the piano and, to mark the beginning of the piece, close the keyboard lid. Some time later he opened it briefly, to mark the end of the first movement. This process was repeated for the second and third movements.
In the concert hall Cage’s 4’33” is musical silence, and such any sound heard is practised in relation to the expectations and conventions of musical performance and musical listening. …As an idea, Cage’s silence can be related to Conceptual Art and its concerns with dematerialization of established forms of objecthood and authorship.
In his own words:
The piece represented a huge shift and was/is very controversial. It changed the definition to not requiring sound at all. Silence is music also.
4’33” is often compared to Duchamp’s Fountain.
Both works introduce new, everyday material into the realm of art and broadened the artistic process, proposing new aesthetic possibilities.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, is it music?
Cage was prompting a redefinition of music, and I’m not sure if we’ve arrived at a satisfactory one yet.
Music is organized listening
This definition is adapted from Ultra-red’s definition of music as cited in After Sound.
By this definition, what else can we categorize as music?