Why Does Music Matter?

There is something deeply mysterious about music. Why does it affect us so powerfully? Is it like a language, telling us something? A subtle form of communication? Are there universal interpretations of the emotions that various pieces of music expresses? Or does one need to be part of a music "community" in order to appreciate musical expression?

Still, despite it's prevalence in our lives artist and scientist agree on this - we know so little about music, and the more we learn about it the less we know.

Can any sound be considered music? Does it have to be in the right context to be "real" music? And what classifies "good" and "bad music? Or more importantly, "Happy" and "sad" or "funny" and "scary" music?

Let's start by trying to define music and then give your philosophical thoughts on how it plays part in our lives and why it is able to do so.

@Tanis Half-Elven LOL:
So are you implying that music evokes emotions based off of the different keys and pitches (and a combination thereof) that the listener hears?
But music does not only consist of notes or keys. There is precusion music which relys only on rythm and beat. Also, there are those that consider sounds like the rain falling or frogs croaking to be music. Native american music can invoke "happy" or "sad" and it does not contain pitches in it. Plus, different music evokes different emotions - such as Canon. I think it is a very somber tune while my girlfriend thinks it is very uplifting. Why is that?

I'd say, music is not at all like language. They're complementary.

Language is great when it comes to communicating episodic narratives, or describing objects, or outlining abstract concepts, and so on.

If you were to explain a spoon to someone who speaks your language, but simply has never seen a spoon, language would provide you an excellent tool to do that. You could describe its form, its use, its purpose. That's not as easily done with music.

If you were to tell a friend of something that happened to you, language would be a great way to do that. You can sequentially progress through the events you encountered, and can lend detail to those things that were of grave import to you. It's hard to develop such a detailed, sequential account with music - even programmatic music remains very rudimentary.

If you wish to debate morals, then that is best done with language, because it allows you to employ the use of logic, and allows you to weigh one perspective against another, and then reach a conclusion. Music cannot do that.

What music is, however, very great at - and language ludicrously bad - is conveying archaic emotions. Take a drum and produce a beat that gets into your bones - you'll find it much easier to evoke the emotion you desire with just a bit of stretched-out animal hide and a wooden stick than with so many words.

As for what Tanis Half-Elven said, I'd have to disagree entirely. What one perceives as sad or happy does not depend on absolute criteria such as the pitch of a note, or a certain chord progression, but the upon social and cultural imprint of a given individual.
That is why the same piece of music may be interpreted differently across cultures - or even individuals.

I agree that music does contain a strenght in describing more things in it's own language more "ambiguously". However, that music evokes emotion upon social and cultural aspects is not completely true either. Among all cultures - and even all individuals - there is a universal understanding of certain musics such a "scary" music in a horror film or celebratory music like a parade or wedding. Even different cultures can recognize another culture's music that is meant to envoke "fear" or "celebration" - so culture and sociology does not answer all aspects as to where or what music taps into when we hear it.

Also, any person is able to recognize "quality music" over "generic" music. Not to say everyone knows what is "good and bad" but even a aborigine can tell that Minuet is of higher "quality" than evelator music. The same is true that we can innately tell that a drum beat at a pow-wow is more complicated than a native american woman humming while making dinner. What makes us deside this - regardless of our culture?

That's not entirely true.
If you present radically different cultures with music from your culture, they may react differently than you'd expect.
One of the great basins for anthropological research is the Amazon jungle, because there's many tribes in it that have had little, or even no contact with the outside world at all. Now, anthropologists such as K. Hakami (1988) found that when presented with music that is accepted as calm and pleasant not only in western, but even in eastern countries, these tribes (such as the Pi'au'che) don't react with delight at all. They regard it as infernal, threatening noise, and in more than one instance went as far as swiftly destroying the playback device to put and end to the suffering.

The reason why music works across cultural boundaries, is because these cultures have had enough contact among each other for certain listening habits to transpire between them.

Nope, there may not be much like for mainstream music or a playback electronic device. However, a person playing a western or classical melody on a recorder (the instrument) or a flute will be able to properly convey if they are playing a happy or negative tune. (James M. Henslin; Essentails of Sociology)

That is one of the mysterious about music - while there is an subjective view, as there is with any art,there seems to be an objective one too.

Music is a passage from us to our lord, Satan. He reaches us through music, and empowers us, and makes us feel warm inside. However, other faggots like Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and Paramore try to be like Satan, and do this too. However, what happens is something called "shitty music" and does not make us feel warm and cuddley inside. That is the explanation to music.

Music gives the "Feel" and passion to movies, games, and etc etc.
Without music this world wouldnt be anything more than Environmental sound scape.

This thread falls into one word when you say why does it matter.










Mute~

It is easy to see that music adds "feel" to other media, but the question is why and how?

I don't think it's so much the music as it is our own perceptions that matter. As Gibbous referenced there are tribes in the Amazon who have been presented with music that several cultures would identify as calm and serene, but the tribes preceived it as something threatening and horrible.

There are many genres of music: classical, jazz, country, rock, metal, etc. And while some people will find a certain genre to be pleasing, others (from the same cultural background) may find the same music to be displeasing to them.

The reasoning behind this is complicated though. It could be because they heard different music (or sounds) as an infant and grew accustomed to notes, pitches, beats, etc. being presented together in that form. However, there are cases where a person will not like music from their cultural background for no clear reason, and will instead prefer music in the form of a different genre.

Why do we enjoy music, and why is it possible to pick out a mood in it? These questions are difficult, if not impossible, to reach an answer for.

All music really is is the combination of various beats, pitches, notes, chords, sounds, etc. presented together in a combination that is pleasing. Trying to explain why it's pleasing is the same as trying to decipher the mysteries of the brain.

Another good quandary, how is it possible for deaf people to compose their own musical score and make it pleasing to others when they themselves cannot hear? Some have described themselves as not hearing, but feeling the music, but how is this possible when music is a sound?

There is a wide array of possible answers to these questions, but noone can know for sure. All we can agree on is that music is able to evoke strong emotions in us and life would be rather dull without it.

1. Music can put out a person's personality.
2. Raikadashi has a point.
3. Most of today's music is pure shit.

Music is a mysterious thing. Everyone possess the power to make music anytime, anywhere using anything and anyone (yes, ANYONE).

Music is, like English, a language that is used to connect people from around the world. Anytime you hear a good piece of music, it feels like you wanna sing or dance along. Secretly, the person beside you is feeling the same thing as well.

Music is also a power that could encourage people or boost their morales so that they could move on forward and face challenges ahead of them. It's used to let you have momentary peace in this chaotic world of ours.



In other words, Music is the unofficial universal language of our world

I agree that music can be used to express emotions that cannot be properly expressed by words, but why is music this way? Rather, why does one piece of music make us happy while another makes us sad, and why does one piece of music make one person happy while it makes another sad?

If we're talking about most mainstream music, the point is moot, since the lyrics tell us what the song is about, guiding our feelings. But with classical music (rather, the large range of music that many people call "classical," even if the term doesn't fit), the emotion felt while listening can differ greatly from person to person. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, for example, can make one person feel melancholy or close to tears. Another person can hear it and feel strong, powerful, as if the music is building him up. Such different emotions, yet conjured by the same music. It's fascinating.

The question isn't really why this happens. It's because of the brain, the fact that people can view the same thing differently, that people have different feelings and views and such. But I'm pointing out that this happens, that a person may feel the opposite of what the composer felt when he made the music, that people may feel vastly different things, that a person can feel different each time he listens to the same piece of music, because that is why music is important. With a book, you can come to your own conclusions about things, but they have to make sense. With music, really, no one can tell you that what you feel is wrong.

To be honest I hate giving it a lot of thought. I once had an essay in high school about the "deeper meanings" of music and I elected to not do the essay. For me there is no deep meaning. I don't care about the technical mumbo-jumbo or the technical aesthetics to it. I don't need to reference an entire essay in my head as to why I like certain types of music. I like what I like simply because I enjoy it. I don't care about it's composition, political, or personal value.

I don't know. It seems like we could spend time on so many more important or better things than trying to dissect what music means to everyone or what music is in general.

Actually I know that razama had posted this because I asked him his opinion on it since it is a topic in my philosophy class :)

But it is important to understand the magnitude of music in our lives. It seems odd that we don't try to understand it more when it is some we deal with everyday. The commericals on Tv have music, people listen to it during work or while cleaning to pass the time, there are musics for celebration and festivities.

The oddest thing about music is how subjective it is and yet is still so very objective at the same time.

Somewhat like metal and the mainstream masses, uh? Interesting...

@music discussion:

Music is pleasurable, hence we like it. But like fetishes, not everyone is in the same thing, so there are many genres, or fetishes, for everyone to choose.
Yeah, I totally ignored the 'why is music pleasurable?' question, but im with Tsurayu on that one. We like sounds, they are entertaining. And the rest is history (and music theory xD)

You're trying really hard, aren't you?