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  • Subject: What is music?
Subject: What is music?

"There's this theory that if there were an infinite number of monkeys pecking away at typewriters, they would eventually write the great works of Shakespeare, but thanks to the internet we now know that's not true." -Adam Savage

"Time is not made out of lines. It is made out of circles. That is why clocks are round." -Caboose

NOTE: This is my new primary account. My old account was AgentCOPP1, and I changed it because it was linked to a gamertag that I no longer use.

Seriously. Why do we humans care so much about music to the point that some of us will devote our entire lives to its creation? Why does music make us cry? Why does it make us do stupid things, inspire us to do good things, make us feel good, sad, mad, etc. What is it about music that resonates with our soul? No other animals in the entire universe make music purely for the sake of music. One can argue that birds do, but they are "singing" purely for the sake of talking to one another. We can talk to one another through song as well, but ours is much more complicated. Why do some songs sound incredibly sad, and some of them happy? Why does our brain associate some chords as sad sounding, and others happy? It's just ordered noise....

So many questions! Halp me flud.

  • 12.23.2012 6:43 PM PDT
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Why So Serious?

"I'm gonna go America all over everybody's asses!"
-Charlie, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Don't ruin it by over-analyzing it, duuuude!

  • 12.23.2012 6:43 PM PDT

lolnope.

I don't know man. Lyrics make me think a lot. I can relate to them often. Spoken words to appealing sounds can do a lot for me.

Like Not The Joker said, don't over analyze it. Just try to enjoy it.

[Edited on 12.23.2012 6:45 PM PST]

  • 12.23.2012 6:44 PM PDT

"There's this theory that if there were an infinite number of monkeys pecking away at typewriters, they would eventually write the great works of Shakespeare, but thanks to the internet we now know that's not true." -Adam Savage

"Time is not made out of lines. It is made out of circles. That is why clocks are round." -Caboose

NOTE: This is my new primary account. My old account was AgentCOPP1, and I changed it because it was linked to a gamertag that I no longer use.

Posted by: Dark Martyr 117
I don't know man. Lyrics make me think a lot. I can relate to them often. Spoken words to appealing sounds can do a lot for me.

But WHY???? It's just noise!

  • 12.23.2012 6:45 PM PDT

GT/Steam: Squiggy888
I try my best to block out the screams
But they're haunting me in my dreams
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Posted by: Covy Killer
Sergeant Explosion and The Quiet Day in London.

Vibrations. They make me feel good.

  • 12.23.2012 6:45 PM PDT

Perpetual Ninja in training.

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."

DMH

Los Paranoias

Music is noise. Chords are based off of how the sound waves of two or more pitches rub up against each other. Depending on the friction from the sound waves, you get different types of chords, happy or sad, etc, etc. I'm being really vague on purpose, it's a lot easier that way.


So yea, there you have it. It is all just how the sound waves mesh together.

  • 12.23.2012 6:46 PM PDT

Posted by: Alex Mac Kee
If pen­ises were planes Jimmy's mouth would be an airport


Posted by: DarkBen64
Don't punch a British kid, the queen'll come after you.

Music is art through the medium of sound

  • 12.23.2012 6:46 PM PDT


Posted by: AgentCOP1
Posted by: Dark Martyr 117
I don't know man. Lyrics make me think a lot. I can relate to them often. Spoken words to appealing sounds can do a lot for me.

But WHY???? It's just noise!


It stems a reaction in emotional form and generates these via chemicals once the sound is interpreted.

  • 12.23.2012 6:47 PM PDT

It's not "just ordered noise" just as your PC isn't "just metal and silicon".

  • 12.23.2012 6:48 PM PDT

Posted by: Alex Mac Kee
If pen­ises were planes Jimmy's mouth would be an airport


Posted by: DarkBen64
Don't punch a British kid, the queen'll come after you.

Posted by: AgentCOP1
Posted by: Dark Martyr 117
I don't know man. Lyrics make me think a lot. I can relate to them often. Spoken words to appealing sounds can do a lot for me.

But WHY???? It's just noise!
Our brains are naturally predisposed towards order

  • 12.23.2012 6:50 PM PDT

"There's this theory that if there were an infinite number of monkeys pecking away at typewriters, they would eventually write the great works of Shakespeare, but thanks to the internet we now know that's not true." -Adam Savage

"Time is not made out of lines. It is made out of circles. That is why clocks are round." -Caboose

NOTE: This is my new primary account. My old account was AgentCOPP1, and I changed it because it was linked to a gamertag that I no longer use.

Posted by: aTALLmidget

Posted by: AgentCOP1
Posted by: Dark Martyr 117
I don't know man. Lyrics make me think a lot. I can relate to them often. Spoken words to appealing sounds can do a lot for me.

But WHY???? It's just noise!


It stems a reaction in emotional form and generates these via chemicals once the sound is interpreted.

Yes, but why does that sound contain any emotional aspects to it? It's easy to say why words can stimulate an emotional response, but I'm just talking about the music itself. There are some instrumentals that can make you feel a wide variety of emotions without any words involved. If you know anything about chords and stuff, you would know that simply changing the second note in a regular three-note chord down one half-step makes it from sounding happy to sounding sad. That's just one tiny tiny difference, yet it changes the entire emotional sound of the chord. Why is that???? IT'S JUST ONE FREAKING NOTE.

I'm hurting my brain.

  • 12.23.2012 6:53 PM PDT


Posted by: AgentCOP1
Posted by: aTALLmidget

Posted by: AgentCOP1
Posted by: Dark Martyr 117
I don't know man. Lyrics make me think a lot. I can relate to them often. Spoken words to appealing sounds can do a lot for me.

But WHY???? It's just noise!


It stems a reaction in emotional form and generates these via chemicals once the sound is interpreted.

Yes, but why does that sound contain any emotional aspects to it? It's easy to say why words can stimulate an emotional response, but I'm just talking about the music itself. There are some instrumentals that can make you feel a wide variety of emotions without any words involved. If you know anything about chords and stuff, you would know that simply changing the second note in a regular three-note chord down one half-step makes it from sounding happy to sounding sad. That's just one tiny tiny difference, yet it changes the entire emotional sound of the chord. Why is that???? IT'S JUST ONE FREAKING NOTE.

I'm hurting my brain.


Hm, I guess there is no real answer to satisfy. To stem more thought, why are these chords able to produce these emotions in us, despite when they become more complex? Such as augmented chords having a sort of "twilight" feeling, diminished chords being even more sad than minor chords? Or Major 7th chords sad and happy, melancholy? And even the inversion used or it's place in a progression can change it's entire emotional interpretation?

The answer? It's just how it is, I suppose!

  • 12.23.2012 7:17 PM PDT

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It's all math.

  • 12.23.2012 7:23 PM PDT


Posted by: FUNKY B0B
It's all math.


It's much more than that... It's expressed emotion, often emotions that can't be put into words.

  • 12.23.2012 7:26 PM PDT

Please do not send me group invites.

Music is art whose medium is sound.
Posted by: FUNKY B0B
It's all math.

Also, this.

[Edited on 12.23.2012 7:27 PM PST]

  • 12.23.2012 7:26 PM PDT