In today's lesson we were asked, what is music? Hayley introduced us to the quote "Music is organised sound." - Levitin (2006, pg 14). I found this interesting, although i don't fully comprehend the quote I believe Edgard Varese was saying that anything can be music, its all down to how one person interprets it. After discussing the definition of music in small groups we came up with an array of ideas. These ideas were either technical or more abstract and personal. I sat and thought for a while and decided that to me, music is about being a community, being able to express emotions with one another but not having to say how you feel, instead you play or sing it. Of course music is also a lot of other things so really its almost impossible to define it. We then went on to compose a song called "This is music". In the song we had some African drums, a tambourine, an acoustic guitar and a piano, I played the piano. After trying out a few different arrangements we eventually agreed on one which we all liked. To end the song, two members of the group chanted "This is music, don't confuse it." This gave our piece of music more levels, producing more texture. To me the song really showed what music is about. We were all working together as a community, having fun and in the end we produced a decent song.
After the lesson I went home and I was feeling inspired so I decided to sit down and play piano for a while. This was when I came to conclusion that I want to develop my music skills further, both practical and theory. I have also decided to start playing the trombone again, whether or not the trombone playing lasts, we will see. In the past few years my main focus has been on my vocals and I have neglected my piano and guitar playing. My aim is to try and spend an hour a day practising an instrument, this will be either: piano, guitar or trombone. I want to track my progress so I've decided to film these rehearsals and post them on my blog, hopefully over time I will be able to see improvement. I will also be spending some time improving my music theory, I already have a basic knowledge and I can read music but I would like to have a better understanding of how music works.
