What is music? is it 100% mathematic?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion explores the nature of music, questioning whether it is fundamentally mathematical or psychological. Participants consider various aspects of music, including its emotional impact, the relationship between sound and language, and the definitions of music versus noise.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant wonders if music's ability to evoke pleasure is due to its mathematical order or psychological connections to language.
  • Another participant suggests that the steady beat of music may relate to the measurement of time.
  • One participant expresses uncertainty about the boundary between music and noise, referencing a conversation with music instructors.
  • A participant defines music as organized sound, noting that even ambient music can possess depth in orchestration and composition.
  • Another mentions composer Iannis Xenakis, who applied mathematical models in music, raising questions about the intersection of mathematics and music.
  • Some participants discuss the difficulty of categorizing certain sounds as music or noise.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the definition of music and its relationship to mathematics and psychology. There is no consensus on a singular definition or understanding of music.

Contextual Notes

Participants reference various definitions and perspectives on music, indicating a lack of universally accepted criteria for what constitutes music versus noise.

Jarfi
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I have been pondering what music actually is, why does a certain configuration of sounds increase dopamine/endorphin in our brain. What makes music feel good.

Is it their mathematical order in the sounds so they follow mathematical rules or equations?

Or is it something pshycological that our brain connects it to voice and languages, so we connect noises similar to spoken languages to wellbeing?

Since it has a steady beat does it have to do with measuring time?

I just don't get it why does music exist? is there any simple defenition of it.

I wanted to know what you tought, this isn't exactly physics, but technically everything in the universe is physics.



I also wanted to point out that this forum desperately needs a philosophy room i didn't find one.
 
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Jarfi said:
Ah great, I was going to post this question there.

I am a lazy person
This would not qualify for posting in philosophy. There are two sets of rules for Philosophy that must be followed, they are stickied at the top of that forum, make sure you read both before attempting to post.
 
Harmonics in music pertain to physics, and it's all about sound waves. But, I went to party attended by a bunch of music instructors last night and that just makes it harder to define as one was talking about noise performance or noise music or something like that. So, I now officially have no idea where music begins and noise ends.
 
This question simply hearkens to the age old, "What is art?". It's the same thing of course.

My own definition would be that music is organized sound. I listen to quite a lot of ambient music, stuff that you would hardly consider to be as such. However it becomes rather obvious once one delves into those alternative roads that there is a rather similar level of depth in orchestration, structuring and composition for sound design as there is with tonal, orthodox instrumentation.
 
dimensional said:
My own definition would be that music is organized sound.

Indeed!
 
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