john b

Interesting post Derek. I've recently picked up the biased opinion that almost everything in the world is objective. Even the definition of subjective is objective. Everything we can think of is defined entirely by it's relationship with other things. And these other things are defined entirely by their relationship with other things. Eventually, things start to be defined by other things which, ironically, are defined by the things we were originally trying to define. At this point, we realize that nothing is certain and that any subjectivity is founded on bold assumptions. I think that music is relative. It appears absolute because human beings are wired similar and therefore are affected similarly. I think that an interesting question is: If all humans were wired the same, would music be absolute (all cultural and acquired differences aside)? The definition of music must be based entirely on how humans perceive it. Why is all music sound, but all sound isn't necessarily music? Each individual human mind makes the distinction between sound and music, and that is why it is relative - because no two people are the same. Hi Jacob, I meant semi-tonal. "But who came up with this stuff? Individuals singing their own folk music, sure, you find variation, but who in a culture first decided what was and wasn't allowed? If anyone?" I think that the consonance, or lack of tension, in octaves and fifths may represent a number of positive things to people, as opposed to the triatone, which was thought to be evil even in the 16th or 17th centuries. If I was a primitive man 5000 years ago, I would choose to endorse the former. This is over simplistic but I have to go now.

Hello to everyone I knew on the old board. I am quite busy these days so if I drop out of existence for a while, you will know why. I appreciate your post Prometheus. I will put what you said in quotes and reply to as much as I can.

Culture bends our natural perception of music only slightly when compared to what it does to visual art. If it all has to do with culture, then why do the vast majority of ancient musics have striking similarities for never coming into contact? For instance, semitonal music (relatively consonant music with some sort of key center) was common among many different ancient cultures. Music, in my opinion, makes use of physical and perceived tension to give the listener meaningful illusions that only he needs to identify with. That is the best definition of music I can think of. The key words that apply to this message are: "that only he needs to identify with". If people understood this they wouldn't need to get so pissed off about traditional/radical views. Being on the more radical side myself, I've accepted the fact that people may love or hate my music. All that matters to me is that for my type of thinking, my music integrates perfectly, and that is why I write it. For me, there is no other serious reason to compose.