Transcript What is Music - WordPress.com

“Threnody To The Victims of Hiroshima”
by Krzysztof Penderecki
“4’ 33”
by John Cage
John Cage's most famous musical composition is called 4'33".
On the one hand, as a musical piece, 4'33" leaves almost no room for the
pianist's interpretation: as long as he watches the stopwatch, he can't play
it too fast or too slow; he can't hit the wrong keys; he can't play it too loud,
or too melodramatically, or too subduedly.
On the other hand, what you hear when you listen to 4'33" is more a
matter of chance than with any other piece of music -- nothing of what you
hear is anything the composer wrote.
"I have nothing to say, and I am saying it,
and that is poetry as I needed it" -John Cage
“Kirisute Gomen”
by Trivium
“Stars And Stripes Forever”
by John Philip Sousa
Maybe your definition completely changed,
slightly changed or didn’t change at all.
mu·sic
[myoo-zik] noun
1. an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in
significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody,
harmony, and color.
2. the tones or sounds employed, occurring in single
line (melody) or multiple lines (harmony), and sounded or to be
sounded by one or more voices or instruments, or both.
3. the written or printed score of a musical composition.
Music is more than meets the ears directly. Just
as no sound exists in a vacuum, every space
sculpts the sound within it. Like a site-specific
equalizer, reflections, absorption, and
resonances combine to give each venue a
unique acoustic stamp.
A subway tunnel is “live” space, rich with
reverberations that trap and reflect sound in a
well of hard tile. True to their name, “dead”
spaces do nothing: The only sound heard is
what travels directly from instrument to ear. An
open field is the ultimate dead space.
 As you the following wandering riff, listen
to the changes wrought by environment.
Distance is also a factor here—the sound
you hear is recorded from the camera’s
vantage. Which spaces sound live?
Which sound dead? Do the acoustic
changes affect the feeling of the music?
 http://www.exploratorium.edu/music/movi
es/space_hi.html
 “—Joseph Griffin, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, University of California
at Berkeley
Stepping is rhythmic movement that uses the hands and feet as
an instrument. Known best among African American fraternities
and sororities, stepping draws on a long African tradition of using
the body to make music.
Synchronized movement and chants are coordinated by the
leader, or step master. Sometimes improvising, always cultivating
their own distinctive moves and rhythms, step teams reflect and
reaffirm both the unity and the unique style of their group.
 http://www.exploratorium.edu/music/movies/stepping_Hi.html
 http://www.steppersusa.com/videopages/yt1.php