Semantics of Music

If you Google “music” there are over 4.8 billion results and those results vary from internet radio sites to random YouTube clips to intellectual discussions on music theory to debates on whether Justin Beiber or Justin Timberlake is hotter. Most of those results would be labeled as music by the average listener, but when it comes to pieces which challenge the commonplace definition of music, what distinguishes music from noise?

The first line of the music Wikipedia page reads “Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence”. Webster provides five definitions, the most notable defining music as “the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity”. Much of classical and modern music easily fulfills these requirements but what is to be done in the unique case of John Cage’s 4’33”?

4’33” is a deliberate absence of sound requiring nothing more of the performer than to be present for four minutes and thirty three seconds as the audience is forced to listen to the sounds of the environment surrounding them. Is this music? The intention is there, John Cage is a highly respected modern composer and music theorist. The piece does use sound and silence, which is the conventional medium of music, in a highly unconventional way. When we ask, “Is this music?” we are debating whether the squeak of a chair during a performance is disruptive or part of the live musical experience.

To John Cage “there is no noise, only sound” however the distinction between music and noise is defined uniquely from person to person based upon cultural norms and personal experiences with sound within a musical context. The qualifications for a collection of sounds to be considered music vary greatly throughout the world and the relativist, post-modern viewpoint is that there is not one universal concept defining what is and what is not music.

During my Musicology class freshmen year we were taken to the pond and told to listen to the music of the environment, our very own 4’33” experience. In that context; the birds chirping, the muffled coughing, and the cars honking were part of a musical experience and united to create music. Yet, normally I just hear it all as noise pollution. Perhaps John Cage is right and the noises of the world are secretly creating beautiful harmonies which one must simply listen for to hear the music. For me, music is in the ear of the beholder and I am going to keep my ears open.