Music in General

My post yesterday got me thinking more generally about sound and music (and the sound of music, but not The Sound of Music.) What is it in the human brain the differentiates random ambient sound, like that thrown off by old computer equipment in the course of normal operation, and music, when that same grouping of equipment is altered to play Bohemiam Rhapsody?

Obviously Bohemian Rhapsody has a perceivable, ordered structure that random office noise doesn't. And while the root of any musical system is somewhat arbitrary (Middle C could have been an infinite number of frequencies), once established, its internal divisions of tone and rhythm are absolute. As a demonstration, imagine a guitar string. You can tune the string to any number of tensions, creating an infinite number of base tones. But the fret tone relationships don't change. You're simply transposing the entire system.

It's all math. If you take a string of any length and divide it in half, the new string vibrates with similar acoustic properties. It is one octave up from the original tone. So Middle C is the original string, and the new string is the next C up on the scale. Other logical divisions of the string create other notes with harmonic properties. And rhythm is also created by regular divisions of a base pulse.

So why do our brains enjoy this structure? It lies in our ability to distinguish and unquenchable hunger for patterns. In fact, I think it's safe to say that "music" only exists in our pattern hungry brains. Naturally occurring sounds can be structured. The sound of water dripping can be regular and rhythmic. Bird song is tonal and ordered. Those sounds are quickly decoded by our brains as "musical." But even more random sounds have musical properties. Water tinkling randomly over rocks has certain musical overtones. Music is pattern, and it's our brains which decides which patterns are pleasing.

Which is why so many forms of music, from classical to free jazz to industrial "noise" music exist. Even the most dissonant, jumbled conglomerations of notes and beats can be musical to some people. It all depends on the patterns you recognize, and your brain's definition of "music."