Thoughts on the nature of music

What is music? Or maybe the real question is, why is music?

The answer to the first question is actually rather simple. Music is sound organized—or perceived as meaningful—by human beings. Even in the case of AI-created music, we still quickly get back to humans. The AI model must be trained on human-created music, and that model itself is created by humans.

The answer to the second question is much more interesting. I think you can break down the things created by people according to two basic functions: tools and culture. Tools are things we create to make it either possible, or more efficient, to accomplish tasks. One could write whole books on what culture is, but for my purposes here, I will propose this: Human beings are really two somewhat different beings—the individual people, conscious and self-aware, and, for lack of a better word, the swarm or group. Those groups are not fully conscious, but they evolve and operate in their own self-interest, which exists outside the self-interests of the individuals. Culture is the “mind” and “nervous system” of that group.

Of course, things are seldom black and white. Music can be used as a tool—for example, to attract a mate. I would say that using something to facilitate an important biological function is using it as a tool. But most of the time, music is used in ways that have to do with things that are far more cultural than practical.

Music is itself a semiconscious, evolving system. All styles of music have rules, definitions, and borders. They all evolve. They are all built on previous forms and eventually exhaust themselves and die—or at least become ever more static and slower to develop new innovations within the form. Some remain, however, as raw material for later forms.

As different forms of music ultimately combine to form music as a whole, music itself is folded into the larger system of culture. Music was probably first used to increase group unity. Like religion and politics, it can bind individual people into a more cohesive unit. It can also, in subtle ways, put pressure on individuals to conform while allowing individuals to push society. It can help people define the different roles society is developing for its individuals, which roles they themselves fill, and who belongs inside or outside a particular group.

I think I’ll stop here for now. I’ll go into this more next time.