Music 111:

Introduction to Music

What is Music?A Performance Piece in Three Actions

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Oxford English Dictionary

Music, noun.

I. Musical art, performance, or composition.

1. a. The art or science of combining vocal or instrumental sounds to produce beauty of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, expressive content, etc.; musical composition, performance, analysis, etc., as a subject of study; the occupation or profession of musicians.The word has often been used specifically to denote the art of musical performance, sometimes with particular reference to instrumental performance, although contextually it can denote other branches, as composition, musicology, etc.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionarymusic  \myü-zik\

noun often attrib [Middle English musik, from Anglo-French musike, from Latin musica, from Greek mousikē any art presided over by the Muses, especially music, from feminine of mousikos of the Muses, from Mousa Muse] (13th century).

1 a : the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity.b : vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony.2 a : an agreeable sound : euphony <her voice was ~ to my ears>.b : musical quality <the ~ of verse>.3 : a musical accompaniment <a play set to ~>.4 : the score of a musical composition set down on paper.5 : a distinctive type or category of music <there is a ~ for everybody —Eric Salzman>.

The Penguin English Dictionarymusicnoun

1. (a) vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds that have rhythm, melody, or harmony: Music is spiritual. The music business is not — Van Morrison.(b) the science or art of writing music.(c) a musical accompaniment: The play was set to music by this hitherto unknown young composer.(d) the score of a musical composition set down on paper.

2. an agreeable sound; euphony: the music of the nightingale.Idiom

• music to one’s ears: something (e.g. news or information) that one is very pleased to hear or learn: To hear that she’d had her comeuppance at last was music to my ears.

• [Middle English musik via Old French and Latin from Greek mousikē any art presided over by the Muses, especially music, from feminine of mousikos of the Muses, from Mousa Muse]

Collins English Dictionarymusicnoun

1. an art form consisting of sequences of sounds in time, especially tones of definite pitch organized melodically, harmonically, rhythmically and according to tone colour.2. such an art form characteristic of a particular people, culture, or tradition: Indian music; rock music; baroque music.3. the sounds so produced, especially by singing or musical instruments.4. written or printed music, such as a score or set of parts.5. any sequence of sounds perceived as pleasing or harmonious.6. Rare a group of musicians: the Queen's music.7. face the music Informal to confront the consequences of one's actions.8. music to one's ears something that is very pleasant to hear: his news is music to my ears.

• [C13: via Old French from Latin mūsica, from Greek mousikē (tekhnē) (art) belonging to the Muses, from Mousa Muse].

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

music

Art concerned with combining vocal or instrumental sounds for beauty of form or emotional expression, usually according to cultural standards of rhythm, melody, and, in most Western music, harmony. Music most often implies sounds with distinct pitches that are arranged into melodies and organized into patterns of rhythm and metre. The melody will usually be in a certain key or mode, and in Western music it will often suggest harmony that may be made explicit as accompanying chords or counterpoint. Music is an art that, in one guise or another, permeates every human society. It is used for such varied social purposes as ritual, worship, coordination of movement, communication, and entertainment.

The Grove Encyclopedia of Music

Music.

The principal subject of the publication at hand, whose readers will almost certainly have strong ideas of the denotative and connotative meanings of the word. Presenting the word ‘music’ as an entry in a dictionary of music may imply either an authoritative definition or a properly comprehensive treatment of the concept of music, at all times, in all places and in all senses. That last would require discussion from many vantage points, including the linguistic, biological, psychological, philosophical, historical, anthropological, theological and even legal and medical, along with the musical in the widest sense. Imposing a single definition flies in the face of the broadly relativistic, intercultural and historically conscious nature of this dictionary.

“Music is organized sound.”

-Edgard Varèse

What is the Purpose of Music?

•Communication

•Ritual

•Entertainment

•Meditation/Prayer

•Weapon/Political Tool/Cultural Commodity

Music is like life

Music is like art

It is a bit of a mysteryand it is not easily defined

“cogito ergo sum” -René Descartes

Why do we make Art?

Paul Cézanne

Bathers

For Friday

Read: Pages 7-10 (Chapter 1)Pages 37-47 (“Musical Instruments”)

Listen to: Listening Exercise 1 (DVD, track 11)

Explore the sounds of the Instruments of the Orchestra at the Listen website