UNDERSTANDING MUSIC (WHAT IS MUSIC?)

THE MYSTERY OF SOUND (TMS)

9th April, 2017
SEMINAR MATERIAL 1

THEME : UNDERSTANDING MUSIC

TOPIC : WHAT IS MUSIC?


INSTRUCTOR : ELMOND ISAIAH

INTRODUCTION

Music is one of the must interesting and best present or gift given to us by our loving father and it feels so good to take a proper study as to understanding what it’s all about. Although the study of MUSIC can never be fully comprehended by any creation, even angels but by God alone who cannot be comprehended by anyone or anything. God, the Living God is the true author of music. He is music personified. So, when we study and understand what music is, it aid our worship to God and help us connect easily to Him.

The Bible said in Psalms 8:1&9 that even the name of the Lord our God is excellent not to even talk about His personality and the things He does. The name of God differ from His personality. Psalms 138:2 said that God honor, magnify, and exalt His word above His name because His word is Him, while name can be just a title (though the name of our King is beyond just a tittle. It is at the name of Jesus that every kneel bow and every tongue confesses). So, if everything about God is excellent then we should work hard to make excellent what ever we present to Him INCLUDING MUSIC.

DEFINITIONS:

There is no simple definition of music which covers all cases.  It is an art form, and opinions come into play. Music is whatever people think is music. But must importantly we every part of it including the silences must be pleasant to the ear. A different approach is to list the qualities music must have, such as, sound which has rhythm, melody, pitch, timbre, etc.

These and other attempts, do not capture all aspects of music, or leave out examples which definitely are music. According to Thomas Clifton, music is "a certain reciprocal relation established between a person, his behavior, and a sounding object". Musical experience and the music, together, are called phenomena, and the activity of describing phenomena is called phenomenology.

Music is the careful arrangement of sounds and silence that is pleasant to the ear. It becomes noise if not pleasant to the ear.

Music is a sound, or the study of such sounds organized in time.

Music is vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.

Music is a form of art. Music is also a form of entertainment that puts sounds together in a way that people like or find interesting. Most music includes people singing with their voices or playing musical instruments, such as the piano, guitar, or drums.

The word music comes from the Greek word μουσική (mousike), which means "(art) of the Muses". In Ancient Greece the Muses included the goddesses of music, poetry, art, and dance. Someone who makes music is known as a musician.

WHAT IS MUSIC?

Music is the mother of science.

This sentence above may be strange to many people especially those who only believe that Music is just an art. Music is not just an art. But am glad to let you know that art is not far from science because art is the conscious production or arrangements of sounds, forms, colors or other elements that affects the sense of beauty. It shows that art deals also with sound which are carefully arranged. This is an attribute of scientifically proven event for it to be carefully arranged. And since it involves sounds it is then musical.

Music as a mother of science can be understood this way:

Music is a two words merged together. Mu – sic

Mu = mother

Sic = science

This shows that music is the mother of all science, inventions and innovations. Wow! What a deep revelation and understanding.

Music can also be understood as sound that has been organized by using rhythm, melody or harmony. If someone bangs saucepans while cooking, it makes noise. If a person bangs saucepans or pots in a rhythmic way, they are making a simple type of music.

There are four things which music has most of the time:

§  Music often has pitch. This means high and low notes. Tunes are made of notes that go up or down or stay on the same pitch.

§  Music often has rhythm. Rhythm is the way the musical sounds and silences are put together in a sequence. Every tune has a rhythm that can be tapped. Music usually has a regular beat.

§  Music often has dynamics. This means whether it is quiet or loud or somewhere in between.

§  Music often has timbre. This is a French word (pronounced the French way: "TAM-br"). The "timbre" of a sound is the way that a sound is interesting. The sort of sound might be harsh, gentle, dry, warm, or something else. Timbre is what makes a clarinet sound different from an oboe, and what makes one person's voice sound different from another person.

MUSICALLY.

Often times we use the word “musically”, but do we really understand what it means to be musically? You hear “musicians” say I am musically inclined. Or say, she/she is musically in tune. Do we understand the gravity of constantly saying that?

One of the definitions of ally in the English dictionary is to unit, or form a connection between, as between families by “marriage”, or between princess and states by treaty, league, or confederacy. I like the way the dictionary puts it. “To be united or have a strong connection with music as though with a bond of marriage (coming and connected by and from GOD). Another definition of ally says to connect or form a relation between by “similitude, resemblance, friendship, or love. This simply means your relationship with music is not on the surface each time you assume yourself as being musically. It means you resemble music. You and music are so similar that u can hardly be separated from it. You and music are in love; GOD is that love and GOD is the author of music! This is true because you may want to even know why the medicals call the heart beats automatic rhythmicity (the quality or state of having a rhythm). Man is made up of music! We will explore more of this in my next book titled “the mystery of sound” volume 1. Watch out for it.

An ally is anything associated with another as helper, a medium, a vessel, a channel in which something happens. You mean you are an ally to music whenever you say and agree that you are musically. “Music finds expression through you”. So, it is never about you but all about the music! Godly music of course. You help music passes the message it is carrying. But how will you allow music complete its mission if you do not listen to its components? All you need is to listen!

CONCLUSION

Music is involved in everything we do. Creations including humans are wired to respond to music. This is a must know knowledge because even the heart beat is called automatic Rhythmicity because of its relation with music. The heart beat is like the sound of a snare and bass drum. The timing and tempo is so consistent that even when you sleep it continues on a regular interval. It only increases in tempo with an absolute proportion of increase in work done and later return to normal.

Whatever you do in music should be deliberate. Never guess on stage. Don’t assume because it’s not a try by error thing.

Always study and rehearse to show yourself approved. Hate mediocrity with everything in you. Desire perfection always and in everything because our God is always perfect and he desire that we be perfect even as He is perfect. Matthew 5:48

True Music is wider than the whole universe and the heavens put together. Music is dipper than the deepest ocean, heavier than the heaviest mountain. What ever you can imagine music to be, is bigger than that.

After all has been said, what is music to you? 

 Reference

v  The Holy Bible

v  Wikipedia.

v  Spiritual search for growth through music by Victor Wooten

v  In pursuit of musical excellence by Elmond Isaiah

v  Oxford Dictionary

The mystery of sound

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