Emotion is the core of music

If you are not expressing your emotions, your music will be no better than doof-doof, even if its a piano and violin.

Key and rhythm follow emotion.

A song is a collection of human meanings paced by a natural stream of consciousness; expressed by key and rhythm.

If you feel unhappy, play unhappy music. If you feel nothing. Do not bother playing anything.

Well, thats my 2 bits of music philosophy anyway.

If you are not expressing your emotions, your music will be no better than doof-doof, even if its a piano and violin.

Key and rhythm follow emotion.

A song is a collection of human meanings paced by a natural stream of consciousness; expressed by key and rhythm.

I almost agree with you about the emotion comment.

I don't agree with you about Key and Rhythm...

No.

I'm afraid I have to agree with this. I don't believe music must be emotional. A lot of the music I like appeals to me on an emotional leve but I hardly think that music must express emotion to be good. What about music that is meant more to express a specific image/scenario than an abstract emotion (i.e. Impressionism)? What about music that is meant to be purposely complex and mentally stimulating rather emotionally (i.e. a lot of the 20th century)? Boulez actually took the opposite stand and said that music should never be about emotion. I don't really agree with that stance either but anyway, I wish people would just learn that trying to apply anything objective to music is pointless. It's an art form and therefore doesn't have clear cut boundaries. And whenever someone tries to apply some sort of objective line, there will always be those who ask "Why?' and break it... if for no other than to be anti-conformist bastards.

I foresee much flaming in this thread in the near future.

If you are not expressing your emotions, your music will be no better than doof-doof, even if its a piano and violin.

Key and rhythm follow emotion.

A song is a collection of human meanings paced by a natural stream of consciousness; expressed by key and rhythm.

If you feel unhappy, play unhappy music. If you feel nothing. Do not bother playing anything.

Well, thats my 2 bits of music philosophy anyway.

K.

No.

I concur.

On a more 'actual reply' note, I often compose happy, cheerful or bright music when I am sad, and dark, melancholy pieces when I am happy.

I think it's to do with balance. Of course the opposite is true sometimes, but you'll notice this with some big name composers - Mozart wrote Eine Kleine Nachmusik soon after his father died, and the mass he wrote for his wife / for his wedding is in C minor, and almost overblown in its drama/tragedy.

Those are not good examples, but I'm just making a point.

Seriously, listen to Mozart's Great Mass in C minor, K.427.

He wrote that to be performed at his wedding!

This is how it begins.

And some more (forgive the slightly higher pitch):

I agree music isn't all about emotion, but I only like the one that is. So TO ME, emotion is the core of music.

If you are not expressing your emotions, your music will be no better than doof-doof, even if its a piano and violin.

Key and rhythm follow emotion.

A song is a collection of human meanings paced by a natural stream of consciousness; expressed by key and rhythm.

If you feel unhappy, play unhappy music. If you feel nothing. Do not bother playing anything.

Well, thats my 2 bits of music philosophy anyway.

I suppose no one's ever taken the time to tell you this.

"Music is by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all"

- Igor Stravinsky

If you are not expressing your emotions, your music will be no better than doof-doof, even if its a piano and violin.

Key and rhythm follow emotion.

A song is a collection of human meanings paced by a natural stream of consciousness; expressed by key and rhythm.

If you feel unhappy, play unhappy music. If you feel nothing. Do not bother playing anything.

Well, thats my 2 bits of music philosophy anyway.

So what's the purpose of your statement? Is it to ridicule people who write music without emotion? Is it to instruct us on how to approach writing music?

And yah, I have to agree that you are really, really, wrong. Elevator music is music, but I don't find it very emotional. Baroque fugues, generally, not that emotional. Do you find polkas emotional? It sure beats me what emotion Khachaturian was trying to express in "sabre dance." But hey, if you would like to go write some emotional music, that's just great for you...

Seriously, listen to Mozart's Great Mass in C minor, K.427.

He wrote that to be performed at his wedding!

YouTube - Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor- Kyrie

This is how it begins.

Well I also married a german girl once, so I know how he feels.

Also, he could have been inspired by the idea of his father transcending to heaven.

Here you mention the spirits love and death. The two greatest emotions we can have. I see the point about using music to balance your emotions. However, within a bad mood is the core of a good mood waiting to break out. You use the music as a vehicle to express this. You are still reacting to your emotions with music. That is good.

The two primal emotions as you inadvertantly point out are love and death, as Yeats wrote :

Behold the flashing waters

A cloven dancing jet,

That from the milk-white marble

For ever foam and fret;

Far off in drowsy valleys

Where the meadow saffrons blow,

The feet of summer dabble

In their coiling calm and slow.

The banks are worn forever

By a people sadly gay:

A Titan with loud laughter,

Made them of fire clay.

Go ask the springing flowers,

And the flowing air above,

What are the twin-born waters,

And they'll answer Death and Love.

With wreaths of withered flowers

Two lonely spirits wait

With wreaths of withered flowers

'Fore paradise's gate.

They may not pass the portal

Poor earth-enkindled pair,

Though sad is many a spirit

To pass and leave them there

Still staring at their flowers,

That dull and faded are.

If one should rise beside thee,

The other is not far.

Go ask the youngest angel,

She will say with bated breath,

By the door of Mary's garden

Are the spirits Love and Death.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Love_and_Death_(Yeats)"

The last verse is most important here

If one should rise beside thee,

The other is not far.

Go ask the youngest angel,

She will say with bated breath,

By the door of Mary's garden

Are the spirits Love and Death.

We also commonly say about a good piece of music, that

'it was moving'

death gives birth to love

and love is sad for we know it never lasts, it always dies.

Dude.

What the hell are you talking about?? Don't bother us with this random nonsense. If you want to have a serious debate I'm all for it, but if THIS scraggy is all you bring to the discussion then I will lose patience very quickly.

So what's the purpose of your statement? Is it to ridicule people who write music without emotion? Is it to instruct us on how to approach writing music?

And yah, I have to agree that you are really, really, wrong. Elevator music is music, but I don't find it very emotional. Baroque fugues, generally, not that emotional. Do you find polkas emotional? It sure beats me what emotion Khachaturian was trying to express in "sabre dance." But hey, if you would like to go write some emotional music, that's just great for you...

I see emotion in all those except elevator music. So phail.

Music = Organized Sounds

Good Music = Organized Sounds expressed by emotions

Music = Organized Sounds

Good Music = Organized Sounds expressed by emotions

Rubbish.

Sorry, what does 'good' mean again? Does it mean 'good', or 'emotional'?

Basically what you're saying is: 'My Heart Will Go On" trumps the Art of Fugue, because the latter was written as an instructional work, and the first is so clearly 'more emotional'?

I guess Bach is being relegated to 'just music' again.

I "express" a lemon by squeezing it. I refuse to "express" myself, or torturing my music and its listeners by forcing it to "express" something over or into them.

(But that doesn't necessarily make my music unemotional.)

If you are not expressing your emotions, your music will be no better than doof-doof, even if its a piano and violin.

EVEN IF!?!?!?!?!

*looks at thread*

Pass

*looks at thread*

Laff.

Another one for the loltastic threads, I guess!

It seems like all music will evoke an emotional response, even if the response is apathy.

It seems that some people, have quite a lot of pent up emotion!

The truth hurts!

It seems that some people, have quite a lot of pent up emotion!

The truth hurts!

Great, another non-answer, useless comment.

Keep it up! :thumbsup:

It seems that some people, have quite a lot of pent up emotion!

The truth hurts!

Flamebait statements are flamebait~

Speaking of which, people have different opinions on things like these.

Me? I'm a fan of emotionless music, or music which has emotion by virtue of artificial attachment rather than implicated context.

But I also happen to think that I can experience any set of sounds at any given time as music if I want to, so really I don't care to define it specifically since it'd be self-defeating. So, the wind blowing and traffic noises don't really have any predefined emotional context (as far as I understand western culture) so it's "emotionless" in its "creation." Doesn't matter to me tho, I like the sounds I like and period.

So there you go. A more or less serious reply to an otherwise worthless thread, thx.

*ignores statements from doofus thread-starter*

[ I] think that I can experience any set of sounds at any given time as music if I want to

:thumbsup:

...the wind blowing and traffic noises don't really have any predefined emotional context (as far as I understand western culture) so it's "emotionless" in its "creation." Doesn't matter to me tho, I like the sounds I like and period.

EXACTLY. MUSIC may or may-not have any inherent, embedded emotion - it's up to the listener to extract something meaningful FROM it.

Since there's no system of semiotics in music, it's impossible to evoke anything specific anyways - and a performer's ideas may differ greatly from that of the composer.

*ignores statements from doofus thread-starter*

:thumbsup:

EXACTLY. MUSIC may or may-not have any inherent, embedded emotion - it's up to the listener to extract something meaningful FROM it.

Since there's no system of semiotics in music, it's impossible to evoke anything specific anyways - and a performer's ideas may differ greatly from that of the composer.

haha, you really confused me for a moment, Robin, with your avatar being the same as Poseidons'. I thought that he was severely contradicting himself...

anyway... for the original statement: Emotion can help create music, if that is how you get things done. Otherwise, emotion has nothing to do with writing "good" music.

I'm glad Robin mentioned semiotics. It's the reason that music isn't a language. It's the reason that ancient Japanese court music sounds like it was written in the last 30 years of Western music.