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<p>Music, the organized movement of sounds through a continuum of time. Music
plays a role in all societies, and it exists in a large number of styles, each
characteristic of a geographical region or a historical era.</p>
<p><br>
II. Cultural Definitions<br>
</p>
<p>All known societies have music, but only a few languages have a specific word
for it. In Western culture, dictionaries usually define music as an art that
is concerned with combining sounds—particularly pitches—to produce
an artefact that has beauty or attractiveness, that follows some kind of internal
logic and exhibits intelligible structure, and that requires special skill on
the part of its creator. Clearly, music is not easy to define, and yet historically
most people have recognized the concept of music and generally agreed on whether
or not a given sound is musical.</p>
<p>Indefinite border areas exist, however, between music and other sound phenomena
such as speech, and the cultures of the world differ in their opinion of the
musicality of various sounds. Thus, simple tribal chants, a half-spoken style
of singing, or a composition created by a computer program may or may not be
accepted as music by members of a given society or sub-group. Muslims, for example,
do not consider the chanting of the Koran to be a kind of music, although the
structure of the chant is similar to that of secular singing. The social context
of sounds may determine whether or not they are regarded as music. Industrial
noises, for instance, are not usually regarded as music except when presented
as part of a composition controlled by a creative individual. In the last 50
years, however, new aesthetic approaches in Western music have challenged this
view. Composers such as John Cage have produced works in which the listener
is invited to hear music in the ambient sounds of the environment.</p>
<p>Opinions also differ as to the origins and spiritual value of music. In some
African cultures music is seen as something uniquely human; among some Native
Americans it is thought to have originated as a way for spirits to communicate.
In Western culture music is regarded as inherently good, and sounds that are
welcome are said to be "music to the ears". In some other cultures—for
example, Islamic culture—it is of low value, associated with sin and evil,
and attempts have been made to outlaw its practice.</p>
<p><br>
III. Music as a Cultural System<br>
</p>
<p>Music has many uses, and in all societies certain events are inconceivable
without it. A proper consideration of music should involve the musical sound
itself; but it should also deal with the concepts leading to its existence,
with its particular forms and functions in each culture, and with the human
behaviour that produces the sound.</p>
<p>Somewhat analogous to having a language, each society may be said to have "a
music"—that is, a self-contained system within which musical communication
takes place and that, like a language, must be learned to be understood. Members
of some societies participate in several musics; thus, modern Native Americans
take part in both traditional Native American music and mainstream Western music.</p>
<p>Within each music, various strata may exist, distinguished by degree of learning
(professional versus untrained musicians), level of society (the music of the
elite versus that of the masses), patronage (court or Church or public commercial
establishments), and manner of dissemination (oral, notated, or through mass
media). In the West and in the high cultures of Asia, it is possible to distinguish
three basic strata: first, "art" or "classical" music, composed
and performed by trained professionals originally under the patronage of courts
and religious establishments; second, folk music, shared by the population at
large—particularly its rural component—and transmitted orally; and,
third, popular music, performed by professionals, disseminated through radio,
television, records, film, and print, and consumed by the urban mass public.</p>
<p></p>
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