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What is the Definition of Music

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What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-24 22:20:10


Hello Newgrounds Audio makers. I would like to share something with you, but first the introductions.

Hello my name is The-Great-One and I am the chief editor of The Interviewer Account here on Newgrounds. It is where Ryanson and I interview the famous artists and members of Newgrounds.

Musicians have been interviewed for The Interviewer before such as DaGrahamCraka, JAZZA, Bosa, Cayler, Zachary Louis, Hania, and Andrew Huang.

However when it comes to music, I wanted to dig deeper. So I questioned a few members of the Audio Portal here on Newgrounds about what music is, their inspirations, and the process they take into making their creations.

If you are one of the following who I have already asked then I would like you to keep silent within this thread because I wish for the interview to remain a secret as I do with all interviews.

However for the rest of you I suppose you could answer these same questions. Because even though I have received answers from those I have interviewed, music although universal has many different meanings.

For those of the Audio Forum who create music, I would like to ask you a few of the same questions I have asked those being interviewed. Keep in mind a link to this thread will be added to the interview.

Q: How did you discover music?
A:

Q: What first inspired you to make music?
A:

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?
A:

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?
A:

I would really like it if you could answer these questions. For once I'm not doing an interview just for the sake of interviewing someone well-known. I want answers myself. I want to know what music really is.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-24 22:46:40


At 2/24/11 10:20 PM, The-Great-One wrote: Q: How did you discover music?
A:

It was inevitable, music is everywhere, I discovered it before I left my mothers womb.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?
A:

Nothing, I joined an elementary orchestra because there were two girls I had a crush on in it also. Just so happens I played the same instrument, and ended up tutoring them, despite me being a year behind. Then I picked up a guitar, the rest is history.

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?
A:

A sequence of pleasing tones in various rhythms and patterns.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?
A:

I pick a scale, I pick a mood/genre, I hit record, the end.


Audio/BBS Mod

News: Bye bye Skype - Music: Tonight Will Be The Night- Art: Kira

\/\/\/ Click the sig for fun times! \/\/\/

BBS Signature

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-24 23:59:59


Q: How did you discover music?

I've been listening to music since i was born. Started studying it when i was 5 and started writing it when i was 11.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?

I always wanted to write my own music, and after going to a music school for up to 6 years i got Cakewalk Pro (a now ancient program that used to write in midi) and well, things just progressed from there i guess.

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?

I'd describe music as 'life'. It's a living breathing thing that only a select few can properly communicate through, but which affects all of us.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?

I think that when i don't have any inspiration, i try to search for some. I listen to great songs on the internet, browse through different songs until i feel inspired and then melodies just start popping out. Sometimes i just go straight to FL Studio and start off from a chord progression, but those times are rare.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 00:10:48


Q: How did you discover music?
A: I was always in love with music and when I was young I would fiddle with my family's organ and later my brother's keyboard which I still own today. I made up my own notation system that had note names that ranged from "A" to "L" and flats and sharps were marked with small "1"s and "2"s by the upper right side of the letter. I didn't really realize how much I loved music until my brother got KoRn and Misfits CDs that, along with Rob Zombie's music in Twisted Metal 4, opened my eyes to all kinds of different music, where before I only listened to oldies on the radio, videogame music and music that was played in movies or television shows.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?
A: I'm not quite sure, really. It might have been video game music, which I would learn by ear and play on the keyboard, or it was metal bass players. It could also have been because of my keen ear for the notes which made me want to reproduce them. I think it could be a mixture of the afore mentioned and several other things, but something drove me to want to make music very badly and so I did.

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?
A: Music is sound and silence that is pleasing to the human who hears it. This is not to be confused with Noise which is just the opposite; Sound and silence that is not pleasing to the human who hears it is Noise. I could bang my head on a chair, while scratching on a chalkboard and if it sounds good to me then it is music. It is as simple and complicated as that and it all boils down to metaphysics and how each individual views the world.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?
A: It varies. Sometimes I'll start a song on one of my instruments and if I don't have enough inspiration it just sits in my computer or on paper and might never get finished or if I didn't record it, it might just fade away to come back again at a later date. Other times, I'll start a song with little inspiration and it snowballs into me having so much drive and inspiration that I stay locked up in my studio for several days working on the song with almost no communication between anyone and myself. In such a case it's kind of like the first note is a snowflake and the ending note is a giant snowball that has been engulfing the previous "snowflakes". There are also times where it just starts slow and stays slow until it's done, sometimes the time from start to finish can be days, weeks or even months. When this happens it's more like Fred Sanford's truck keeps breaking down on their way to the TV store to get a new color TV while Lamont pesters Fred to save for a new truck instead and when they get the TV and they are on the way home, it still won't stop breaking down, but when they get home and hook that new television up, Fred sits in his chair all cozy like and watches TV in satisfaction, the journey is over and the final note has been played.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 00:25:58


At 2/24/11 10:46 PM, Back-From-Purgatory wrote:
It was inevitable, music is everywhere, I discovered it before I left my mothers womb.

Spoken like a true John Cage aficionado.

Q: How did you discover music?
A: Behind a drum kit. Back in middle school I was trying to decide on an instrument to pick up. I was split between the idea of having a shit ton of fun with drums or looking cool with a guitar but I ultimately decided to just have fun with music. My senior year of highscool i started playing with garage band during my film class. I didn't make a single video that year :D

A few animations though...

Q: What first inspired you to make music?
A: Space Jam. It was the first sound track I ever owned and without I probably wouldn't be who I am today.

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?
A: Music is something that has taken on many meanings to many different people. My opinion: as long as someone likes it and thinks it's music then it's music.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?
A: No inspiration? DNB: 180-182 BPM. Get the drums down first, then work a chorus around that drum loop. After tweaking the loop until I like it, copy and paste it a shit ton of times. End of day.

I would really like it if you could answer these questions. For once I'm not doing an interview just for the sake of interviewing someone well-known. I want answers myself. I want to know what music really is.

If you have an opinion, then you already know what music is. You just need to start asking yourself why you think that. Music is open to interpretation and any one that tells you your wrong is an ass hole.


quarl BandCamp

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 00:27:01


Q: How did you discover music?
A: How did I "discover" music? I honestly have no idea how I first found music. What got me into music as I am today? Well, it took a long time and a lot of trial and error. I wasn't real big on music for a long time (lack of expendable income for albums plus a strict "I don't pirate nothin'" moral policy led to a very minimal amount of exposure) but then I found Newgrounds' audio portal and my world opened up. One thing led to another and here I am.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?
A: What inspires anyone? A sense of adventure, perhaps, of feeling "hey, me too!" Some of it was that I always wanted songs that were exactly what I wanted to listen to, but of course they were never around! I figure let's kill a thousand birds with one stone and make the songs I've always wanted to hear myself. I'm still not quite there yet :p

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?
A: There are so many, really. I think the most inclusive I've heard is "sound over time". Which, really, is the bare minimum required to be music. I suppose the next logical step would be that it has to be on purpose, but then you remove some sounds of nature, and is that really fair to nature to restrict it from being musical? I'll stick with "sound over time", even though I really want a less vague definition.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?
A: The first note comes down on the piano roll, of course! In reality I'm not so sure. It depends on what I'm trying to make. Sometimes it'll start in the percussion with a beat, sometimes it'll just be me trying to craft a single bar of the best melody I can, and yet others it'll start with the rhythm, then the tonality, of the bass. Where it ends? I'm not so good at that part yet so mostly where I run out of ideas!

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 00:42:46


At 2/25/11 12:25 AM, Quarl wrote: If you have an opinion, then you already know what music is. You just need to start asking yourself why you think that. Music is open to interpretation and any one that tells you your wrong is an ass hole.

I do have an opinion of what music is, but I don't make music. At one point I was challenged that I didn't know how to appreciate music because I disagreed with one of my friend's favorite bands. So that really got me to thinking of what music is.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 02:59:20


I like to think of music much as I would think of a language. It's sound eminated from something trying to communicate something else.

Much like a language it has rules of syntax and form, but they are often broken by experienced authors in order to achieve an interesting effect.

And further still like a language, it evolves over time (when allowed) and is nearly impossible to "master", but very possible to become impressively proficient in its use.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 03:02:05


Q: How did you discover music?
A:
Not sure, it's always kind of been a constant in my life, going as far back as I can't remember.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?
A:
Bashing on pots and pans before I could properly walk, and dad's arctic-white strat.

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?
A:
Any and every impulse of energy, vibrating within a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz. I think that music can be defined in an even broader and more fundamental sense, but I also think that people are currently too tied to the idea of music being expressed through just audio.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?
A:
All-nighters and cannabis. My songs don't end, and I have a tendency to leave loose ends untied.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 03:03:34


At 2/25/11 12:42 AM, The-Great-One wrote:
At 2/25/11 12:25 AM, Quarl wrote: If you have an opinion, then you already know what music is. You just need to start asking yourself why you think that. Music is open to interpretation and any one that tells you your wrong is an ass hole.
I do have an opinion of what music is, but I don't make music. At one point I was challenged that I didn't know how to appreciate music because I disagreed with one of my friend's favorite bands. So that really got me to thinking of what music is.

lol, I feel like that's a common vibe to run into when your talking to anyone about music. I think I get that feeling sometimes too when I disagree with what other people think of music but at the end of the day music is an intangible thing that has been interpreted in so many ways for tens of thousands of years. It's unfair to assume that music can only be one objective thing. Example: in western music the major chord is typically an upbeat sound and the minor creates tension. In russia things kind of went backwards with minor being uplifting and major creating tension. Don't quote me on this, but try comparing the music of Mario to the music of Tetris. The music might already sound kind of tense to your western ears, but realize that the real tension doesn't kick in until the tempo of the music speeds up :)

Let's also look at rhythm. In western standards you see a lot of 4/4 and 6/8. Time signatures in dance music if you would. In traditional japanese flute playing the meter is determined by the length between breaths taken by the player giving the meter a sort of undetermined length.

Music is subjective. The more you know about it the more you realize how little you know.


DUMB STEP :D :D

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 03:06:21


Q: How did you discover music?

A: probably the first time i heard anything, not sure on specifics


Q: What first inspired you to make music?

A: a mixture of boredom and curiosity


Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?

A: any sound


Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?

A: it's different with every song, sometimes i start with drums, other times with melodies

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 03:28:25


At 2/24/11 10:20 PM, The-Great-One wrote: Q: How did you discover music?
A:

When I was in the single digits of age I watched a lot of Disney film with my sister, and we played alot to it. Fantasia comes to mind. We also own a clavinova with a large array of built in songs that were fooled around with, though I never really played piano, nor listened much to music until about grade 12 (just a few years ago).

Q: What first inspired you to make music?
A:

I was 10, on another flash site and the artist credited himself for his audio. My mind was blown, real people could apparently single handedly write their own music. He even provided a link to a cracked copy of FL3. I downloaded it and commenced my step into frustration.

The flash animation was this one. http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/du defalling

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?
A:

You've already received a pastiche of idea's of what music is according to a handful of musicians, producers, and I'll assume non-musically entwined known contacts contacts. I'd rather attempt to define why there is an excessive variance on people ability to come to a solid answer on the topic of music.

Philosophically when approaching the issue of defining, or discussing the essence of music two major character groups exist in which we speak about our essence. We have those who are familiar and intelligent about the topic; musicians, producers, physicists/mathematicians/technicians who are into sound and music itself. The other side, more colloquial listener, appreciator, fan, non-production related individual who is interested not in making, but in more of a cultural, social dynamic, dancing, bobbing head accepting what they hear. Yourself for example. Between what I'll just dub producer and listener, there is a ton of gray territory (yourself again, by having sought more information). However what is not so gray is that when talking about our abstract topic of music, what defines the essence is different according to the two groups and suddenly we have a ton of varying accidents from both perspectives. While both are right in the context of their own belief of what music is and how it relates to them, their thoughts do not effect what music is, but the others interaction with music.

Which roughly reads as a very well known discourse of commercial versus underground, unoriginal versus original, the known versus the unknown, amd the producer and listener. The list goes on, but its a big circle of poor communication of and about music, and how it relates to us. In the way most people speak about music, there is this weird attempt at defining music by example, or solidifying the topic into a more definitive confine and it almost always falls back into a deconstructive loop of balancing popularity and commercialism against artistic originality.

This being said, I'm a producer and I generally dislike casually talking about music to people who don't understand what I do about sound. Either their eager to learn and I'm now in the role of educating, which is fine but can become tiring. The other possibility is they think their emotional opinions carry some significant weight of meaning. Conversations like that go like "This genre is so good!" "Why?" "Uh, it has a good beat." "Explain the beat." "Uhhh..."

Other then my philosophical deconstructive rough analysis of a beaten-to-death discourse that not many people in my mind talk about with the slightest of intelligence, music to me personally is something with an endless array of possibilities for production and manipulation which is quite fun to create within as a medium.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?
A:

Creativity is easily artificed and machinated. You could ask how people write music while inspired and you'd get an equally fluffy answer which wouldn't make sense to your perspective and associated language use while addressing the essence of music. When you do start understanding what someone or we say, you're probably on the road to losing your abliity to be a listener.

I would really like it if you could answer these questions. For once I'm not doing an interview just for the sake of interviewing someone well-known. I want answers myself. I want to know what music really is.

You'll always have your own answer, it just changes as much as you do or don't want it to.

When I read the thread title, it evoked a face palm reaction. "Another guy asking what music is and isn't." Its such an abstract subject, if I ask you to define color, or what happens in the afterlife no cohesive definitive answer can really be given that serves the topic justice for the variable nature of our reflecting on it. I hope nothing I've said seems like I'm talking down to you, or unnecessarily pretentious, but I've chosen my words carefully to fit how I feel. I'm studying a multitude of arts and if what I've said is a bit... too much or too dense, just shoot me a PM and I'll clarify if you are interested in what I have to say.

Fingers crossed this makes some sense.

BBS Signature

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 06:00:14


At 2/25/11 03:28 AM, InvisibleObserver wrote: Fingers crossed this makes some sense.

You've made the most sense to me out of all I've asked.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 15:08:58


At 2/25/11 03:28 AM, InvisibleObserver wrote: Fingers crossed this makes some sense.

Not only did it make sense, but it was brilliantly written. A very well written and well thought out response.


Rottenbread.net

For your daily dose of rotting yeast..

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 15:56:30


At 2/24/11 10:20 PM, The-Great-One wrote: Q: How did you discover music?

Music has been my passion since i was a little kid, while the other kids on my neighborhood were playing football,watching tv, video games,etc. I spent my time listening to my Dad's Cassette/cd collection from The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Police, U2 , etc. Later on my dad bought a Casio keyboard and i just went crazy pressing all the keys randomly (like any other kid encountering for the first time a music instrument) had lots of funs with that keyboard. Few years laters my dad made a band with his friends called "the ruckets" and they gathered every saturday at my home to play classic rock from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. But the drummer was absent very frequently due to his work and that's when i took my first step into performing with a band as a drummer and that's when i discovered music, my passion for it.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?

The lack of interest of other people towards music, I lived in a place were music were just a "background" thing, people just don't understand the humongous effort and hard work needed to make a song from scratch. When people used to ask me "hey what are you going to study for your career" and when i told them that i want to dedicate my life to music they will just respond the same answers "are you serious???" " you can't study that!!" "is that a job?" "OH NO, you need to study something else". So i wanted to defend music by making my own music to show people that being a musician is not less than being a doctor or a lawyer or a porn actress, etc.

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?

My Drum teacher once told me :

"Music is the combination of sounds and silence" which in theory it is. But i personally think that music is a lifestyle of dedication, creativity and luck.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?

From my dreams, for example my very first track was based from a melody that i heard in a dream then when i woke up and the first thing i did was to recreate the melody that i heard in my dream and then i would continue making the track with my ideas from the "real world".
But there has been times that i dream about beautiful song but then i wake up in rage because i can't remember how did it that song sounded,i forget completely about how was the song, i just remember that it was beautiful.

But not every single song is based on my dreams, sometimes i just do it the normal way, i define a melody , then the bass , then add some harmony, define the song structure, add some drums and fills, add some cowbell and finally mastering the song.


Music is my passion , not my business.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 16:50:44


At 2/24/11 10:20 PM, The-Great-One wrote: Q: How did you discover music?
A:

I don't really remember how I discovered music. It seemed to have slowly crept up on me.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?
A:

Ever since I got Above & Beyond's album called 'Tri-state', I was massively obsessed with it at around age 11 and I wanted to create stuff like that. Within a few months I came across a site called flashplayer, which is now known as freegames.1up.com. From that site, one of the flash movies had newgrounds in the credits and from here I found trance music.

After listening to a lot of trance music on online trance radio stations, I have been trying to re-create the sound. I fiddled around with FL studio making short beats or songs, and in the end it took me around three years to finally make good quality trance songs. Unfortunately my motivation for trance has died down and now I make whatever comes to my head.

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?
A:

Any sound that has a rhythm.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?
A:

I usually play around with presets, making my own sounds or tweaking other sounds people have made. Sometimes I hook up my midi keyboard and play around a few scales or chord progressions off the top of my head to come up with something.

When it comes for the first note and where does the song end, it really depends on the song itself.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 17:10:00


I'd like to comment that I don't think "sound with rhythm" is necessarily a good definition of music. What about sounds without a distinctive rhythm? What about in symphonies when there are markings to allow the conductor to pause for as long as they'd like, thereby removing the rhythm?

What about the experimental symphony that consists entirely of the noises in the concert hall without any music played from the instruments at all? That has absolutely no rhythm at all given the randomness of the sound, but I think it certainly qualifies as music, no matter how abstract.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 17:26:47


Q: How did you discover music?
A:
It's universal. I think everyone is born with the desire to listen to music; I don't think there's really a way to "discover" it.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?
A:
John Williams and Danny Elfman's film scores. And, later, listening to Ennio Morricone's amazing score to La Bataille d'Algiers and just thinking, "I want to do that."

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?
A:
A combination of notes, revolving around a tonicized note, played on various instruments which, when combined, sounds pleasing to the ear. Additionally -- and unlike today's terrible crap that passes for 'music' -- real music should make you feel something: happiness, sadness, triumph, hope, et cetera.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?
A:
It always starts as a theme, or a motif, depending on what I'm trying to accomplish. If I'm scoring a scene, it usually starts as an emotion -- and from that emotion a melody is born. Or, I'll start with a group of notes -- something from an early sketch of a theme that I can hear in my head before I start writing. And other times, I just choose a key, thrown down a few notes, and go from there. The song ends when the scene ends, or if I feel that I have completed my original goal (e.g. a piece in sonata-allegro form is done when I have completed the requirements of sonata-allegro form). If I have finished describing an emotion or scene through just music -- and friends and family can tell what that emotion is or can picture a scene in their mind, then I know I've done my job as a composer properly.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 18:59:03


what is this for?

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 19:00:36


At 2/25/11 06:59 PM, RedMongoose wrote: what is this for?

Read the original post and find out.


Audio/BBS Mod

News: Bye bye Skype - Music: Tonight Will Be The Night- Art: Kira

\/\/\/ Click the sig for fun times! \/\/\/

BBS Signature

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 22:19:52


At 2/25/11 06:59 PM, RedMongoose wrote: what is this for?

LERN 2 RED!

At 2/25/11 07:00 PM, Back-From-Purgatory wrote: Read the original post and find out.

Seriously though, what Back-From-Purgatory said.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 23:01:08


At 2/24/11 10:20 PM, The-Great-One wrote: Q: How did you discover music?

A: Found it in a treasure chest.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?

A: Money

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?

A: Anything that is loud

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?

A: Sorry, I can't give away any of my production secrets

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-25 23:13:47


At 2/24/11 10:20 PM, The-Great-One wrote:
Q: How did you discover music?
A:

By having a conscience I discovered sound. The same way I discovered how to identify colors, tastes, textures, scents.

Music came around the time when I started categorizing the things above.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?
A:

I think everyone is inspired to make music. But at different levels- some people wish to make music, while some have the actual desire to learn, and do so. I dont remember what first inspired me, but that inspiration and magic is long gone.

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?
A:

A completely subjective and interpretative concept made up by humans that portrays sound as an artform. Different people have different ideas of what music constitutes as and such, needless to say. But everything in the universe has the properties identified in music- it has a frequency(pitch), it has a point in space(time), and it has an amplitude(volume). Frequencies can be manipulated to create timbres and melodic lines and time can be manipulated to create rhythms that organize timbres and melodies alike and then amplitude gives the melody dynamics so it can be heard (or not). Pardon the run-on sentence.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?
A:

I wish I knew.

I would really like it if you could answer these questions. For once I'm not doing an interview just for the sake of interviewing someone well-known. I want answers myself. I want to know what music really is.

There are no objective answers. It's all up to you as the interpreter.


BBS Signature

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-26 06:33:15


At 2/24/11 10:20 PM, The-Great-One wrote: For those of the Audio Forum who create music, I would like to ask you a few of the same questions I have asked those being interviewed. Keep in mind a link to this thread will be added to the interview.
Q: How did you discover music?

A:
I've always loved music. I've always been a natural talent at it, so it's no surprise I'd end up making it.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?

A:
Two things happened: I first encountered electonica when I heard Steppingfilter 101 by Aphex Twin. I loved it, and it just got me completely hooked, I wanted to make stuff like that. Then I discovered a friend of mine had FL Studio 6 (then FruityLoops) on his computer. I would tinker around for ages on that thing, until I finally convinced my parents to buy me FL Studio 7 for my birthday.

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?

A:
Something that inspires the mind, body and soul. It has to have meaning, not necessarily melody or rhythm. It should be able to sway your emotions and perhaps make you do crazy things sometimes.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?

A:
It could come from anywhere. Sometimes I might just be placing random notes and hear something that sounds good and build on it. Mostly I get a tune stuck in my head and I have to release it into some form or another.


bork bork bork

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-26 07:41:01


I won't answer the hard question but the widest definition of music that I'm willing to accept is sound that occurs due to human intent, even if it's accidental (so a performance of 4:33 is music because the performer intends for the accidental noises (coughs, random squeaks etc) to happen).

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-26 08:24:08


At 2/24/11 10:20 PM, The-Great-One wrote:
Q: How did you discover music?

A: Music is just natural in our world, I just happened to be drawn to it at a very young age, somewhere around 2 or 3 years old.


Q: What first inspired you to make music?

A: I don't really know for sure. It's always been in me to want to create, whether it's art, creative writing, or music. But I think when I was about 16, everything just clicked at the right moment and I felt inspired to finally start writing music. But since I was about 6, I've always wanted to create music.


Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?

A: Music is the organization of sound (within the human hearing range) rhythmically, melodically, and harmoniously. Often done to convey emotions or some sort of purpose.


Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?

A: This is a little difficult for me to answer. Inspiration can hit me from anywhere. It could be at a rave/dance party, in my car while driving down the highway, or while under the influence of drugs. But the idea remains the same, that inspiration for me has no direct source and when I feel it, is when I put down the first note and the song ends when I feel the idea/theme/feeling has been conveyed.


I would really like it if you could answer these questions. For once I'm not doing an interview just for the sake of interviewing someone well-known. I want answers myself. I want to know what music really is.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-26 09:19:40


Here are my answers, in the usual excess length that I write things with...

At 2/24/11 10:20 PM, The-Great-One wrote: Q: How did you discover music?

Well obviously since music is all around us and we probably can't spend a day without hearing some form of music, I discovered it inevitably.

If you mean, 'how did you discover music and began to like it?', then that's pretty recent. I started liking it at around 9, and I discovered that I liked it because I realised 'hey, music sounds awesome with video games'. I began playing games for the sole purpose of listening to their music sometimes, and if the music is really good it inspired me to play through a game more than once rather than let it gather dust as I move on to another game.

Most of my liking in music, however, came when I discovered the Audio Portal, and proof of this can be the 500+ Audio Portal songs I still have, downloaded onto my computer. When I got my mobile (which was at about 12-13 years old I believe) I used it solely for listening to music and the occasional necessary SMS or phone call I needed, and I still do today.

This is weird because before, when I was younger, I would refuse to ever start using headphones, listen to music by famous people, etc... Simply put I found music and any other arts (except writing) incredibly boring.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?

Before I ever got FL Studio, I used to make music with Echo with trial versions of notation software such as Finale, when I was 11. I'd mess around on the piano, and when I make a nice melody, I go to the computer, add some piano accompaniment to the melody and give it to Echo, where he'd give it different instruments with Cakewalk (all MIDI, don't forget), maybe add a few of his own things to the song here and there, and produce the final MP3.

I think the main inspiration to start making music like that came from different places. It might have come from my piano lessons, which, at the time, I'd been going to for about a year, and it could have come from the ambitions that my friends of school and I had to make music and play it in front of the school (which never actually happened, but hey, we were young and overambitious).

Still, what actually got me to start making listen-able music was FL Studio, and the music in the Audio Portal did this. At first I thought that I should give Flash a try because at the time I found that my interests were more on the visual side rather than the aural side, but I knew that I was hopeless at drawing. I heard about many different softwares to make music with, but eventually I settled with FL Studio.

I believe my inspiration to get FL Studio was this song... I was like 'whoa, you can make music like this with FL Studio?' :D.

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?

My definition is going to be like the definition of most of the people in this thread; it's sound, interpreted as art, and is created with the initial aim of making people find it pleasant/interesting to listen to. That being said, music is, like, the only thing (other than deeply emotional events such as deaths of family members or some very important exam results) which makes me feel emotions more than I usually do (which isn't much), and there are only a few things, such as making music itself, that I enjoy more than finding a spot alone and listening to some well-written and emotional music.

Conclusion: in its concrete definition, music is an art in the form of sound, but it's very subjective and to everyone it serves a different purpose.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start?

It starts with doodling and ends with doodling. I can't write music without inspiration and expect it to sound good. In some rare occasions I write without any inspiration, and what I write, despite sounding like crap, inspires me to write something better. But never have I had a time when I started a song without inspiration, ended it without inspiration, and it sounded good.

Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?

The first definable note of a melody when I don't have any inspiration comes down immediately when the song starts. I don't manage to make a decent intro without inspiration and so, I just write what I can and it usually either ends with a half-assed ending or me deciding to give up on it.

That's about it. Sorry for the large amount of text.


Review Request Club | CHECK THIS OUT | Formerly Supersteph54 | I'm an Audio Moderator. PM me for Audio Portal help.

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Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-26 15:37:34


Q: How did you discover music?
A: It has always been there, I never discovered it, it has always been present.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?
A: The NG audio forum after I got tired of Flash and actually wanted to create my own music instead of everyone wanting me to be a musician (performance-wise).

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?
A: A series or collection of sounds calculated to entice and interest the ear, usually with a rhythmic and tonal pattern attached to it.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?

A: I am inspired by sounds. If I can't think of a song to start I will browse through my sound library until I hear a sound that makes me think "This would sound great like this!" and then I put that sound down into the melody, bassline, or drum pattern I imagined and then work from there. As far as ending, I usually don't finish a lot of music but when I do, it ends when I am fully satisfied with my song. Even after I submit it, I find errors or things I don't like, go back and fix, then resubmit until I get the desired result.


Strychnine and cyanide. A healthy part of this complete breakfast.

Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-26 17:42:54


Q: How did you discover music?

A: Apparently when I was around 2 years old, I would waddle to the tv anytime the three tenors were on PBS. But, in a more conscious way, I discovered my love of music through video game score at the age of 10-11.

Q: What first inspired you to make music?

A: I was in the wind band throughout middle and high school (and now in college). I got tired of other musicians flaking when I wanted to start or play in a band outside of school, so I started teaching myself music production using the computer so I could be creative but not have to wait for "Thursday night practice."

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?

A: In my theory class, music was defined pretty clearly for me in a definition I hold onto, but first, something entirely obscure. Sound: everything makes sound, even particles vibrating, even strings (or other subatomic mish-mash) move to make sound on some level. Silence: Silence is the negation of sound, in other words, the result of a lack of matter. Perceived (or Musical) sound is the sounds we can experience or sense in some way. Perceived (or Musical) silence is the negation of that, or the lack of experiential sounds. My definition of music is: organized musical sound and silence. Noise is the negation of that. Also, whether those sounds and silences are organized by the creator or the listener doesn't matter. This is why we can all have our objective definitions of music and noise. This is what I was taught, and then adapted in my mind.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?

A: I tend to write for purposes. I like to make music to commemorate or represent things that exist or things that should/shouldn't exist. It is hard for me to write and create music just for the sake of music, because I feel like I should have something to convey or to tell people. I appreciate those that are able to write music for music's sake, though, because otherwise I would have very little to read or listen to.


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Response to What is the Definition of Music 2011-02-26 18:02:03


Q: How did you discover music?

How does anyone avoid it?

Q: What first inspired you to make music?

Hearing the music of others

Q: What is in your opinion, the definition of music?

Sounds or a series of sounds we enjoy. I say this because I think defining music is useless unless you're the only one able to experience it. You're not, it's just no one can share your perspective on it.

Q: When it comes to writing your music without really much to inspire you, where does it start? Where does the first note come down and where does the song end?

It starts at the start. It really depends - I upload pretty much none of my music here because I'm hesitant to call any recording much more than a sketch. Maybe that's an ego thing - they're pretty lousy quality- but I do tend to upload stuff because it sounds odd or to showcase an idea.

But a part is from the old "Improvising is just songwriting sped up" adage and I like to improvise. Sometimes I write ideas - riffs, melodies, chords, build sounds etc. But often I'm trying to take different ideas and put them together. Some of my ideas come purely from ideas - What if I write a song trying to evoke a time of day? Or with a certain type of chords? Or with the same bassline but changing chords? Or a certain scale or set of notes from a scale? Or keep changing the phrase length? It's usualy about patterns and the distortion of these patterns

Why are all these answers so pretentious and long winded anyways?