the rain in my purse: what is music

Thursday, November 20, 2008

this is a tough one
but it will be on my son's music class test tomorrow.
so if you know, hey, pass it on.

Anonymous said...: Probably too late to help your son:
"Music is what happens in the spaces between the notes."

I don't know where I heard this; could be a famous quote, could have been smalltalk. Fair warning.; 11/21/08, 10:51 AM
Andrew Shields said...: That was from Debussy, though I thought it was from Miles Davis!

But it's wrong anyways. Music is the food of love, isn't it?; 11/21/08, 11:36 AM
SarahJane said...: you guys are nice. thanks.
unfortunately, according to Miles, the test was a wash. he knew what music was, but couldn't name some of the slower tempos, only the moderates and fast.
i will now torture him with some lugubrious music.; 11/21/08, 5:16 PM
Anonymous said...: SarahJane: Music is still a mystery, and anyone who says they can define music is just making stuff up. The only way we can define music is to point to examples, and then say: "these things are music, and other things like them are also music". Of course this definition only works when given to a person who has their own subjective experience of music. So it might not be a very useful definition if you are trying to explain music to someone who doesn't experience music themselves, for example an alien from outer space.

Most "definitions" of music are really descriptions, which is not quite the same thing.; 12/26/08, 9:07 PM

the rain in my purse