Wherever you go...

Whoever, whatever or whenever we are, we are probably in the middle somewhere, though some fancy themselves on the extremities, and a few might actually be there.

These are the strange fruits of statistical reasoning.

Music isn't music

For the majority of people, music isn't really music, even if someone professes to love it. What most people actually mean when they talk about music is not music per se but words. Typically it is in fact lyricism, that is to say recited lines of poetry, composed in ordinary language, that form the corpus of the average music fan's taste. That there is a textural, harmonic and rhythmic backdrop for a human being to sing these lines over appears almost incidental to the casual listener; it is merely a kind of pretext or mnemonic for what truly captures their interest. It is difficult to say whether this is strictly a contemporary phenomenon (approx. 1965 - present??) or whether this has essentially held true for most of human history, given the reams of evidence required to support such claims. 

Music may predate the development of language, although it seems likely that over the intervening millenia language progressed more quickly and became more sophisticated in an earlier age, whereas the development of musical art has been slower, possibly due to an extreme conservatism of sensibility driven by a desire to maintain societal conventions and uphold tradition. Alternatively it may reflect the everyday pedestrian utility of language compared with the comparatively more specialized and occasional practice of musical art through the ages.

Tempo and rhythm are generally easier for the untrained to grasp, and it is an emphasis on these elements that has largely dominated the musical trends of the recent past as a profusion of popular styles, often centered around a charismatic vocal performer, have taken hold of the public consciousness. Music as a profit-seeking industry is almost entirely unconcerned with musical values, prioritizing fashion and efficiency over innovation. 

The science and study of harmonic ratios, that perennial gift of the ancient Greeks, lay practically unmodified for over a thousand years until it was expanded and more or less reinvented with the widespread adoption of equal-tempered tuning, and now belatedly appears to be attaining (at last) the kind of global sophistication and unfettered expressivity we might have associated only with written or spoken language previously. 

The possibilities are limitless. 
 
But as always, such rich rewards are reserved for those possessed of open ears, and open minds!  

For further commentary, see Smith, 1997.

Rest in peace, friend. 

 

P.S. There will be an eclipse later today