Music is a way of life. It is its own language. It can convey love, lust, happiness, sadness, anger, a divine love, passion, hope, truth, and so much more. For some of us, music is a fuel for our everyday lives. We listen to it when we work out, to fall asleep, or when we feel happy or sad. Music is considered to be subjective. For what may be considered music to one person, may not be considered music to someone else. Musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez states that, “The border between music and noise is always culturally defined—which implies that, even within a single society, this border does not always pass through the same place; in short, there is rarely a consensus ... By all accounts there is no single and intercultural universal concept defining what music might be." Even so, we can all agree that whatever we consider to be music, is something that we consider to be enjoyable, and isn't that really the whole point anyway? A quote by Victor Hugo, a French romantic poet from 1802-1885, is a personal favorite of mine. He says that, “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent”. A couple other quotes that I feel describe music perfectly are: "where words fail, music speaks" by Hans Christian Andersen and "music is love in search of a word", by Sidonie Gabrielle.
I chose to write about the history, the industry, the styles, formats, and the affect that music has on our society and the economy. I hope by reading this blog you will develop a new appreciation (if you don't already have one) of music and its pure genius.
