Pop-M-S @ 1112

Your perception is not my reality.

And neither does my perception have to be your reality.

And thus with that in mind, let’s try to articulate the answers to these three words - What is music?

Almost salvation to me, religion to some others, noise to the heathen.

Yes, as with every thing else, music is subjected to the exercise of perception.

Like Mariah Carey’s music.

There are folks who would be willing to pay $200 for a front row ticket at the diva’s concert. Frankly though, others would much prefer to hear a cacophony of donkeys braying.

So are “song of bird” and “murmur of brook”, as mentioned in the lecture (or even braying of donkeys) music?

This again begs the question: What is music?

But to define what music is, we need to ask too, what is noise?

What separates the two?

Like music, noise is subjected to perception.

Some noise possesses rhythm and beat to certain folks. There’s structure in even the chirping of the birds or the roar of a Volkswagen’s exhaust pipe.

Is drumming on the tabletop with a pair of chopsticks considered noise?

Um.

Taste and preferences aside, my summary of music in broad strokes is this: Music is an expression of the soul, articulated and taking form in a melodic symphony with structure.

Music – whatever genre it be and whether it be popular, tribal or religious - is different from noise in its structured nature.

The songwriter writes her song of angst or love, often from the outpourings of her own experience, or from her observation of life. Likewise does the composer and similarly do all artists draw on life to create.

I write therefore I am. And in writing a song, whatever you are are encapsulated into the song. The emotions in that moment, whatever drove you to write a song are captured in immortality in the form of a song.

It doesn’t matter if it’s just words and chords scribbled onto a plain A4 sheet of paper, or if it’s recorded – just you and your acoustic piano – on your trusty deck recorder. If that melodic symphony with structure is expressed in form, it is music.

These bare requirements - “an expression of the soul, articulated and taking form in a melodic symphony with structure”, are perhaps what sound has to fulfill to be called music.

No doubt this definition has its flaws and loopholes.

But there is no one answer to a demanding question like what is music? (For that matter, how do you define what popular music is? Even the music played in churches these days resemble the stuff we hear on radio).

Perhaps one reason why music is wonderful is that it cannot be pinned down and stuffed into a box, not by definitions or physical actions. You find your own answer in your own music, whatever genre or artiste you go for.

Music is like a mother figure with open arms, willing to embrace whoever wants to enter her world.

It is a different world, that somehow brings one closer to the divine center.

For me any how, I feel I can touch God in and through music. The Bible says that all good and perfect gifts come from God and music is definitely a good thing.

So when a guitar rift or piano solo gets into my heart and pulls me onto another plane, I can only say this:

Hallelujah, thank God for music.
- posted by sg girl @ 3:39 pm
 

Thursday, February 26, 2004

 

Pop-M-S (Think S-M-S) @ 1126.

POPMS stands for POPular Music and Society. If one had taken the first alphabet of each word of the course title, the acronym we would have ended up with would be PMS.

POPMS can be read as two words - Pop Ms (Yes, that would be me then).

This site is dedicated to the pursuit of understanding the meaning of Popular Music and Society. I hope you will be entertained, disturbed and introduced to new ideas.

Peace.

- posted by sg girl @ 12:32 pm
 

All works on www.popms.blogspot.com copyrighted by Skye Tan.