Music is made up of sound. Any sound. There can be music without melody, as in Edgar Varese's "Ionization," or in some of today's rap. There is also music without harmony, as in any a capella solo (every day people make music without harmony when they sing the Star Spangled Banner. Some even make it without melody.) There can be music without rhythm, put on a New Age station for a while and you'll hear some (Arguably, however, even one chord played for two minutes has a rhythm, it's a beat two minutes long. I am, however, working on a piece to be performed by God. It will be called "God's Note." It consists of one note on the saxaphone [God has a marvelous tone, similar to King Curtis, and contrary to popular belief, He uses a Rico Reed, not a Ralph Reed.] It will have no beginning and no end, it will just be...as a matter of fact it will just be Bb. This will be the only music that has no rhythm.)

Yes, these components of music describe sound. Sound is that of which music is made. We, the composers, organize this sound to taste.

Most music uses definite pitch, a great deal of which organizes the pitches to mimic the harmonic overtone series God has given us (And I wouldn't doubt that He will perfectly harmonize my composition at least as well and, if He wishes, better than Duke Ellington.)

Most music has a rhythm that is organized in relation to even pulses, usually mimicking heartbeat, which are then grouped in twos or threes. We call that meter.

Most music harmonizes, this slightly incorrect term means that it is polyphonic (more than one note at a time) with the pitches using the harmonic overtones to create consonance and dissonance for tension and release.

All music presents sound on purpose for entertainment.

Of the four components, I have the most trouble with pitch. I can hear pitch fairly well, in sessions I'm, as often as not, the first one to catch something out of tune. When I sing, however, I'll flat those darn thirds and sixths. Maybe I'm rebelling against the tempered scale, but I'm always punching in four or five notes and they're nearly always a third or sixth. I also hear myself out of tune, but when we check with the autotune, I'm in. That drives me even nuttier. I'd rather be out of tune and fix it than hear myself out of tune and have it unfixable...this, since the invention of autotune, is what leads me to believe that a lot of my problem is trying to sing the natural, rather than the tempered, third.

Well that's my problem...one of many, but I discuss the others on other websites under an assumed name. What's in your wallet?

All the Best,
Mike

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Mike Dunbar Music

[This message has been edited by Mike Dunbar (edited 07-29-2004).]

You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way. -Johnny Cash

It's only music.
-niteshift

Mike Dunbar Music