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So then...melody, beats, noise, silence...What is the boundary where sound is crossed and ceases to be music?

Of course, there are endless forms of music and within the forms come great extremities. I would not agree that there should be a line that must not be stepped when it comes to experimentation, expression or any other word begining with 'ex' which I can't seem to think of at the minute. I think if somebody creates a musical idea and like it in any way, the chances are that there is someone else on the planet that may share the opinion. Granted that these opinion sharers may be lobotomised berks who can't put a shirt on the right way, but I say let the lobotomised berks who can't put a shirt on the right way enjoy their tastes of sounds. (Does one taste sound?) After all, 'each to his own taste' and all that jazz. If you are repulsed by a sound, surely it is best to stop listening to it and leave it be for those who are not.

But talking about opinions of music hasn't really answered the question of 'what is music?'. So I'm afraid I'm going to be very dull here and put it into two rather dull words to make a rather dull definition...'Organised sound'. I'm afraid I'm far too boring to be using phrases like 'the dancing of poetry on the wind of Zeus' buttocks'...or whatever people are calling it. Sure, I am moved by music and find incredible beauty, anger, love, fear, etc in pieces but If we're talking about definition, music is quite simply sound which has been organised in some way. Or even the lack of it, as argued by John Cage.

You may classify good and bad music by influence such as scenes, presentation of a performer, whether you are disgusted by the fraudulence and deliberation of other listeners, reputation of the recomender etc, etc. I believe it is possible to like any form of music when approached in a certain way. True, some music has more chance than other types to float your boat but I still stand by my point.

So...Mozart or Aphex Twin? Miles Davis or Cannibal Corpse? We can argue forever about which is the best and worse genre of music and why but I don't think it's right to say 'That's just noise!' because even if it is, it's still music. You may think it's bad music and you may be right, but it's still music. Music can be challenging, enlightening, depressing, sexy, mass murder inducing, etc etc all of which somehow derive from the arrangements of certain sounds...so...that would make music organised sound. Or I could be wrong and music is indeed, by strict definition, the dancing of poetry on the wind of Zeus' buttocks.

Thank you for reading.

Learn more about this author, Michael Lees.
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