How do you define music?

[king ubu]

aerobics a "more important cultural result"???

a mind-boggling thought of universal importance, I confess...

[DukeCity]

aerobics a "more important cultural result"???

a mind-boggling thought of universal importance, I confess...

OT: My ex-wife had a Jane Fonda tape with soundtrack music by Steps Ahead. Anyone whose seen me can guess that I didn't ever actually do the workouts, but it was kinda fun to watch the spandex-clad Fonda-bots do thier thing while Michael Brecker was going off over synthy funk grooves!

[GregN]

You guys are a bunch of geeks!

There is an idea that

Music, as everyone here is displaying, is a social construct first and foremost. Groups of folks often get together to enjoy and try to understand that which they are enjoying (or not enjoying for that matter). When something is a bit off or new, one often refers to either an internalized other for understanding, or they turn to someone and quite plainly say, "did you hear that? is that good?"

The internalized other would be any previous social/musical situation in which musical experience has occured and a subsequent cognitive schemata for regarding or referencing future sounds results.

To try to define music, as Jsangry said is at the very tough. However, in attempting to define it does not necessarily follow that one is confining the subject matter. Any attempt at better understanding of music is a noble endeavor.

Moreover, theories of music morph as ideas, group perceptions and values change (no implied direction of causality necessary here). While there are certain physical properties to (rather than of) sound that cross over and are common regardless of any societal bias, socio-historical epoch, etc.. the bulk of musical understanding rests squarely on the definition of a musical situation, in any given moment, among all of its participants.

That is, jazz is often enjoyed best live and in a lively setting. The meaning of the notes, the sounds, are defined best in that social moment. And even then the definition is at best, only an estimate.

So there

g

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

aerobics a "more important cultural result"???

a mind-boggling thought of universal importance, I confess...

OT: My ex-wife had a Jane Fonda tape with soundtrack music by Steps Ahead. Anyone whose seen me can guess that I didn't ever actually do the workouts, but it was kinda fun to watch the spandex-clad Fonda-bots do thier thing while Michael Brecker was going off over synthy funk grooves!

Of course - don't you think health is an important result in our present culture of gross overconsumption?

MG

[Chuck Nessa]

That is, jazz is often enjoyed best live and in a lively setting. The meaning of the notes, the sounds, are defined best in that social moment. And even then the definition is at best, only an estimate.

So there

g

Ever the salesman.

[GregN]

That is, jazz is often enjoyed best live and in a lively setting. The meaning of the notes, the sounds, are defined best in that social moment. And even then the definition is at best, only an estimate.

So there

g

Ever the salesman.

lol

That's not what I meant silly man.

In all seriousness, a sociologist by the name of Goffman wrote some pretty cool stuff about the symbolic interactionism of jazz. Being there, in the moment... and all.