What is Music?: Part I-Music v. Noise

In a recent blog, I poured out my heart in the form of my philosophy of music. Now I have decided that I must address the controversial question "What is Music?".

John Cage, a composer you may or may not be familiar with, wrote a piece in 1952 entitled 4'33". This piece is written for any instrument or combination of instruments and the score tells the performers simply not to play. The audience and performers then sit in "silence" for four minutes and thirty-three seconds. This piece forced musicians, composers, and audiences to consider the question "What is Music?".

Music is so hard to define, especially in the context of modern music (and even more so for "classical" music). Cage's composition is so controversial because of the "silence" aspect. If anyone has ever been to a concert of live music (any genre) you probably know that audiences are by no means silent during performances. So for four minutes and thirty-three seconds the "music" is the sounds of the audience. If someone sneezes, that's part of the performance. If an elderly gentleman is snoring softly in the balcony, that's part of the performance. If crazed teenage girls are screaming, that's part of the performance. If a biker gang drives by outside, that's part of the music. But when you think of music, is that what you usually imagine?

So where do you draw the line between what is music and what isn't? Imagine that you're walking outside on a sunny day in the springtime. You hear the birds chirping away in the trees. Is that music? Many composers have tried to imitate bird song in their works (Tchaikovsky's Peter and The Wolf, Messaien's Quatour pour la fin du temps, Pink Floyd's album More), so perhaps this is music. What about sounds of the ocean or whale song? Is a thunderstorm music? How about the hustle and bustle of a busy city street? Are these just part of our auditory lives in the way that painting your bedroom walls green is just part of our visual lives? You paint your walls green, does that make them art? It might make you happy, but is meant to provoke a specfic response? Is this really true for visual art? And do sound and music follow the same aethestic ideals as visual art?

These are some very difficult questions to answer, and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface. I leave you to ponder these questions until the next installment...