What is Music?

1st week
Introduction to Music

objectives
To understand the different ways in
which music is defined
To be aware of the musical diversity
To learn how to approach music in a
global and transnational society

The definition of music

Music = art work
Approaching music as text or object
Valuing score/manuscript
Paying attention to life of artists
Only artists have the artistry

 Humanly organized sound

John Blacking (1973): ethnomusicologist
specializing in Venda music, Africa

Music is an organized sound by human,

and for human, which is closed related to
human culture and thus reflects the
human nature.
All humans are musical.

 Musicking
Christopher Small (1998): sociologist
To music is to take part, in any capacity, in
a musical performance, whether by
performing, by listening, by rehearsing or
practicing, by providing material for
performance (what is called composing), or
by dancing.
The meaning of music is located in the way
people relate with music, rather than music
itself.

 Soundscape
Murray Schafer (in the late 1960s):
Canadian composer and
environmentalist
Sonic environment (including sound of
human, animals, and nature)

 Music as culture
Culture: the values, beliefs, and patterns of
behavior that a human community shares
Humans embody the values and patterns of
behavior that the community that they
belong to values, and those are represented
in many forms such as rituals and music.
These cultural forms are handed down
orally, in written form, or electronically to
the next generations.
Culture is not a fixed one, but keep
changing.

 Albanian wedding
Throughout a wedding celebration, men and
women gather to sing in ways that strongly
differentiate by genderWhile women sing
softly and thinly of courtship and marriage,
sitting with great composure deep within the
host familys house, men sing loudly and
thickly of heroism and romance, drinking and
toasting boisterously in the familys courtyard.
(Sugarman, 1997)

The diversity of music

Music is universal, NOT a universal language.
Different societies, subcultures, historical
periods and individual musicians may have
sharply differing ideas on what constitutes music
and about its characteristics and essentials, its
significance, function and meaning. It would be
hard to provide a universally acceptable definition
and characterization of music. (Bruno Nettl)

 Ethnocentrism
The assumption that ones own cultural
understandings are normative and that
those that differ are strange, exotic, or
abnormal

Cultural relativism
The contents of culture are not shared by all
humans, but are produced in accordance to
circumstances and environments that each
community confronts It is necessary to
understand other cultures in a right way.

How to approach music

One needs to be aware that there are diverse
approaches to music.
One should not have any prejudice and
misunderstanding on other culture or music.
One should be open-minded in the global and
transnational society.