The importance of music

[edepot]

It is obvious that our senses drive most of the technology that we use. Given that we can listen to a subsection of the vibrations of the air, most of our current technology are made to generate the same vibrations via speakers to satisfy the brain receptions connected to the air drums inside the ear. Of course you don't see anyone making many things that can satisfy the frequencies that dogs can hear, or other animals can hear. It would be pointless unless you are working in the military or doing some scientific research.

Imagine if music from aliens came to earth and they are receptive to different frequencies, and can generate sounds in different frequencies. Then of course we would have a new market opened up to satisfy them. Speakers, mics, would have to be made that can take into account the different sound ranges. Even most music players would need to be redone to handle a different range.

The same can be said of our vision (we only are able to see a certain spectrum), which drives the displays we purchase.

But back to music... it seems our brains are tailored to be able to memorize a sequence of music that is ordered and repeatable. When they are repeated in a certain way and our brain is exposed to this sequence a certain amount of times, naturally, our neurons will be wired for this new sequence. It seem popular music have certain patterns that our brains naturally like. Perhaps they contain a pattern that is easy for the neurons to hard-wire, or a pattern that follows some natural connection pattern in our brain. Someone should study why certain songs are #1 hits, and why certain songs are not. It seems maybe some people have a natural predisposition to be able to generate music that others like.

[mister_playboy]

I'm quite a fan of music for pipe organ, and I suppose the fact that it covers the whole spectrum of human hearing is a big part of the appeal. You can get lots more complexity and variety when you use all the space you have to work with, so to speak.

I recently found a spiffy spectrum analyzer for Winamp, and I spent a lot of time "looking" at different sorts of music... and I realized just how "flat" pratically all the music you might normally listen to can be, from a purely physical perspective. Drums, especially, are really just noise as far as the sound profile is concerned. There was quite a bit to be learned just watching this... I had no idea just how great the difference in the frequencies associated with male and female voices, for example.

If anyone's interested, the analyzer is part of this (freeware) Winamp plugin: http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details/221711

Just click on the "FX" icon in the system tray to find it.

[quesnelam]

Is AP Music Theory a difficult class? Does the teachers usually gives tons of homework? I am a junior in high school and I'm taking piano now. Next semester I will be taking Music Theory and I am planning to take AP music theory next year as a senior.

[hardwynrogers]

Music is an important part of all cultures. Today, there are many forms of music around the world. Music for people in Europe and America is known to Western music. There are two main types of Western music, classical and popular. Classical music includes symphonies, operas and ballets. Popular music, including country music, folk, jazz and rock. Cultures of Africa and Asia have developed their own types of classical and popular music.