Value of Music

[Fanfic_warper]

Is that 86 tracks or 86 albums?

songs. Just 86 songs or tracks, or whatever you want to call them.

 

[EcoHulk]

I like music since if you can find the right type of band,the music can "speak" to you. I know that is said a lot, but that is honestly what music is for me. Sometimes when, I'm trying to go to sleep, I listen to one song, then I listen to another, and another, and another until its dawn. It gives me a good feeling that i don't find anywhere else.

My music collection is small since the style of music I listen to is pretty unique in sound, I can't listen to bands that, while good, have that "sameness" sound to the others in that genre.

 

[Harry Mason]

Music is everything to me. Without it, I am nothing and my life is forfeit. To each his or her own.

 

[fenrizz]

Not to dominate this thread, but I literally just remembered something I've often thought about, and I thought it was apt.

Music completely defies classification. It encompasses so many things, that the only word that adequately and completely describes it is itself. Music is music. So, what does it encompass?

Mathematics. Music is essentially the mathematical applications of sounds. The entire idea of music theory is that you have a system based on numbers that helps lay out and explain the structure of what's being played. For instance, Western music is based on the idea of having 12 notes. If you choose 7 of those notes, you have a mode. Whatever those 7 notes are dictates what kind of mode you have. For instance: 1234567 is your essential Major scale (the Ionian mode). Whereas 12b345b6b7 is your standard Minor scale (the Aeolian mode). And if you put 12b3456b7, you get the Dorian mode. And that's not even looking at chords. Put a 1 and a 5 together, and you've got a simple 5 chord. Put a 3 in there as well, and you've got a Major chord. Put a 7 in there too, and you've got a Major7 chord. It's using the principles of mathematics to construct pleasing sounds.

Except that it's also physics too. Mathematics without sound to be applies to is only maths, whereas if you introduce physics, all of a sudden you've got music. For some reason, we as a species have decided that a certain sound that rings at a certain frequency should be called 'C'. Not only that, but we've also decided that a sound with a certain higher frequency should be called 'C#'. And beyond that, a certain frequency dictates the name 'D'. And so on, until we discover a new frequency that is higher than the original 'C', yet is fundamentally the same. And thus we get the 'Octave': a note that rings at a different frequency yet is fundamentally the same as a note lower down. And you can get multiple octaves, so that there is a range of dozens and dozens of notes that musicians can choose from. Even more fascinating, the fact that if you play two similar frequencies at the same time, they'll oscillate with each other until they're both made the same. In essence, the process of tuning up is the process of cancelling out oscillations between frequencies. And that sounds like something out of a science lab.

Except that music isn't a science, it's an art. As in, it's a manifestation of the artists desire to create. Which is completely against the idea of science. Science is about using logic and reason in order to learn more about the truth behind the universe. Whereas music is a personal creation that utilises emotion over reason, and seeks not to discover the truth, but to preach it as the artist sees it. It uses scientific principles to create something inherently un-scientific, which is a beautiful contradiction.

Which isn't the only contradiction either. Music is structured, it has form and 'rules' behind the theory... and yet it is fundamentally abstract. When you listen to a chord progression, there's no 'set' meaning that you're supposed to take away from it. You can apply lyrics to it, and therefore give it a literal meaning that the listener can take away, but without words music is simply an arrangement of sounds that we enjoy for their aesthetic value, and which can move us all in different ways. A highly structured art-form which nevertheless is abstract enough to allow different emotional reactions from different listeners.

Goddamn it, the more I (over)think about it, the more awesome music really is. OP, you need to get on that.

Quoted for some serious truth right there.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[OrpheumZero]

It depends on what your looking for. In a game, it can make or break the title if the soundtrack is too out of place or ruins the atmosphere. Survival horror? Ruined if you don't use ambient or tense themes that blend with the setting. Because jarring jock rock is just stupid and will never make you pee your pants (unless the music frustrates you ). But music as itself? It's important because music can speak to all people even with language barriers, something that writing and sometimes film can't. If you took the music of Shadow of the Colossus and played it for your doting old grand parents, they'd likely ask you for the composer's name instead of telling you "to shut that J-pop garbage off!"

 

[TheOmenCorpse]

Perhaps 350 artists.
All hail last.fm, for finding similar bands, my digital collection, grows larger every day.
In the physical realm however, I own two cd's, both from the same artist, absolutely feeble

 

[Esotera]

My collection is in the 4 digits too

Congratualtions!!! You are now the 7th person I've met with that many songs in their collection.

I have a friend with a 5 digit library, he's seriously into metal. I've just hit the 4-digit barrier myself.

*snip*

Absolutely this. Mathematics seems to be hidden in so many art forms, from fibonacci spirals in picasso, to the underlying physics of music. What saddens me is that a lot of people see the mathematical description as ruining it. Or at least, my arty friends do.

 

[ASan83]

Music is pretty much everything to me. Every moment of the day that I can, I have music playing (Right now it's 'The Great Gates of Kiev by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer if anyone cares). I don't shoehorn myself into one genre, I listen to everything (Except modern country). Good music inspires me, motivates me, gets me going, ready to take on anything. In short, to me, music is it's namesake: My muse. I'd be nothing without it.

 

[Fanfic_warper]

I have a friend with a 5 digit library, he's seriously into metal. I've just hit the 4-digit barrier myself.

Congratulations you're 8 on my list. Your friend is the first person I've heard of with one in the 5 digits.

 

[Gladiateher]

Thing is broseph, different things effect different people different ways. For instances I prefer cheeseburgers to steak, it's just the way things are. Some would say I have a less refined pallet, I would say that's it's not less refined it's just different.

 

[Fanfic_warper]

It's actually a lot less complicated than it sounds.

5th time trying to read it....no it's not....give me the ELEMENTARY version please.

Dude. You need to get on that. Perhaps part of the problem is that your music collection is so small you haven't listened to any of the really great stuff.

Go out, and get yourself a couple of Pink Floyd albums. And if that doesn't turn you onto the power of music, I have no idea what will.

I googled this 'Pink Floyd' and listened to it's music online. I had to seriously fight the urge to pop my own eardrums 2 minutes into any of their songs.

Here's my current list just for giggles (do not ask me for artist or band, I really didn't care and took off all that info so that it sorts in Windows media player by title alone):

All Star
Alones
Aozora no namida
Arcade-A Pella Mix
Ash Like Snow
Asterisk
Battlecry
Beyblade
Big Ass Rock
Blaze Line
Bokutachi no Yukue
Bouken Desho Desho
Can You feel the love tonight
Circles
Code Monkey
COLORS
Colors of the Heart
Cruel Angel's Thesis
Demon Academy
Digi Rap
Drastic My Soul
D-tecnolife
Escape the City
Fire in Your Hole
Ghostbusters
Go!
Hakanaku mo towa no kanashi
Hawaiian Roller coaster ride
Hero's Come back!!
Hey Digimon
Hot
I cry
Ichirin no Hana
Ikea
I'm no superman
Impossible
In your voice
Inner Universe
Invoke
Just Communication
Kaidoku Funou
Life is a Highway
Lullaby for you (english)
Lullaby for you (japanese)
The Mind of the Bat
Mining all day long
My Pace
Nagareboshi
Namida no Mukuo
Namikaze Satellite
Necromorph Soup
Never gonna take me down
nrrrd grrrl
O2 (note: that's an 'oh' not a zero)
Orion wo Nazoru
Pokemon Johto
Pokemon World
Re:Member
The Real Folk Blues
Reckless Fire
Red Fraction
Rise
Rolling Star
Run for your life
See you later
Simple and Clean
Son of Man
Sound of Silence
Still Alive
Super Shooter
Sweet L.A.
Take Me Home Country Roads
Through the age of the dragon
Through the night
Times are changing
To be a master
True in your heart
Trust you
Twister
Unlimited
Unlimited Sky
Wasteland Soul
Wheatley's Song
White Reflection
The World
Tsumi no bara

PS: I love how 'google' has apparently become an official verb...I just found it out.

 

[zombie goat fetish]

All about personal taste I have over 8000 albums on different formats all different genres. I just have a deep love of music.

 

[Instinct Blues]

I thought my library of 86 was pretty big, but apparently all of my friends have music libraries in the triple digits and a few acquaintences of mine have libraries in the 4 digits.

Wait so you only have 86 songs? Or albums? Or artists? Or GB? Please specifiy.

I want to know what is the value of music and why does it have that value with people.

I'm reminded of something Jack White said about bands in which he compared them to paintings.

Spoiler: The Interview where he said it

Its about 35 seconds into the video

Basically he says that different people get different things out of things like music and paintings. I can't really explain why I value music so much because I have over 100 CDs and 6,740 songs in my iTunes library. I care about music a great deal because to me its comforting to know sometimes that you aren't the only one who is sad, or happy, or confused and that other people feel the same way at times. I mean music has the power to change people's emotions because I could be the saddest person in the world, but if I listen to a song that has hints of optimism I'll think "Hey things will get better its not always going to be so sad and dreary". Thats just my two cents about music feel free to disagree.

 

[Fanfic_warper]

Wait so you only have 86 songs? Or albums? Or artists? Or GB? Please specifiy.

86 songs. But what is a 'GB'?

 

[ScreamSlayer]

My library is about 600

Filled with dubstep, hardstyle, indie, metal, grunge, rap

lots of things

anyway, music is an expression of self, it can calm you down, even you out, make you angry, make you happy, what else can do all those things? ( apart from E. , weed, heroin and opium, among a few other drugs)
Music is amazing, and I base my life around it.

My favorites right now are death cab for cutie, cookie monsta, chrispy, skrillex, a perfect circle, tool
one or two others.

 

[Instinct Blues]

86 songs. But what is a 'GB'?

GB=Gigabyte

Its how much space your music takes up on your computer. Yeah 86 songs isn't that many as I'm sure many others have pointed out, but if it was 86 GB than that would be a LOT of music.

 

[ScreamSlayer]

ah,

Thing is broseph, different things effect different people different ways. For instances I prefer cheeseburgers to steak, it's just the way things are. Some would say I have a less refined pallet, I would say that's it's not less refined it's just different.

I get that, and i hate people that tell me " that music is just machine noises"
but having a refined music taste generally means you understand and recognize the different melodies, and all the intricacies to a song

its the difference between listening to tool, and understanding tool, its more enjoyable if you understand it.

Also though, sometimes things are just better.

 

[smithy_2045]

86 songs is practically nothing.