Bitearsweet

I always have a question at the back of my head, mainly because I have uncles that are really into the who classical music scene and a cousin who is a child prodigy when it comes to playing the violin... but what is music?? What exactly defines music? My uncles always ask me what it is about hip hop music and how I can dance to it because it's not music. I think that no matter how open-minded they try to be, if it's not true classical music, it's not music. But is hip hop music and electronica and other non-classical genres NOT music? I keep asking myself that question cos music plays such a big role in my life and I always come up with the same conclusion that yes, it's ALL music.

Like everything else in the world, it took someone to label and define the word music so really, there can't an answer. But to me, music is something that evokes a feeling, an emotion. It's a vehicle used for expression. Really, if you think about it, it's all just noise in the end. If nothing but true classical music can be defined as music, then does that mean our traditional Chinese music is not music? I mean, the guzheng for example does not use standard western staff notation, but rather a type of numerical notation. It doesn't contain quarter notes or whole notes, but rather numbers with dots. Does that mean it's not music? I mean, Mozart and Beethoven didn't use that sort of notation. The only similarity that I can gather between the two is that they both tell stories and produce a type of feeling and emotion within the listener. They require technique and is appealing to your soul and your ears. So then why is hip hop music not music? Rappers also tell stories, although with a more literal approach, and also produce feelings within the listener. It also requires technique and has to be appealing cos, honestly, I'm sure we all have heard some not-so-great rappers in our lifetime. And then it leads me to think, what is good music? Does good music even exist? My answer is a lovely hypocritical no and yes. No, there technically is no such thing as good or bad music because it's all personal preference, which is where the yes comes in. To each of us, there can be something that we consider as good music because it's to our liking. We've all had songs where we've loved and no longer love anymore. At the time when we liked them, it was good music. But once we no longer liked them anymore, it became bad music. So really, how can we say that good music or bad music even exists? Again, this had to be defined by someone, like everything in the world, and unless you're the sole creator, you cannot put a definition on it. The classical composers didn't create this phenomena known as music cos it's been around for eons (guzheng music for one has been around for over 2500 years... way before the classical composers were even born), so I hate to say this, but you technically can't say that they know what music is. Just because you give it a label doesn't mean you own it and can define what it is. People can call me a hater or whatever they like, but this is the reality of things!

I guess all I'm trying to say is, people, stop trying to feed me this "good music/bad music" bull-crap. Being able to do fancy tricks on an instrument does not make you a god of music, nor does being able to identify all the classical composers and their pieces make you a music scholar. You continue liking your music, and I'll continue liking mine. Just because I like a certain type of music that you don't, doesn't make me more or less intelligent and certainly doesn't me make more or less "cool". Don't give me that look when I play R&B when you like rock, or when I play foreign music when you listen to nothing but American music. Why can't everyone just be a little more open-minded and try to hear what makes others find a certain type of music or a certain song good? Well, ok, if it's a song where there's just mindless screaming of the F-word non-stop for 3 minutes then yeah, maybe you can label that as not music. The music I listen to doesn't suck so honestly, get a life and just get over yourself.