D. Stephen Heersink wrote:

>>"The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous,
>>unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm,
>>and timbre" is the definition the American Heritage Dictionary gives for
>>"music."

Karl Miller responded:

>My dictionary, The Harvard Dictionary of Music "The term is derived from
>the Greek, muse, and more specifically the art (technique) of the Muses.
>Originally this term included all the cultural endeavors represented by
>the nine Muses...As early as 300 B.C., Aristoxenos had divided music into
>theoretical and practical music.  It was not until about 1500 that this
>classification, still valid, was reintroduced."

So here is what I found in my encyclopedia (Meyers pocket encyclopedia, 24
volumes, Brockhaus Verlag Mannheim) - badly translated:

   "The term music describes in his brodest sense a willful arrangement
   of sounds.  (Der Begriff Musik bezeichnet im weitesten Sinne ein
   absichtsvolles Arrangement von Klangereignissen)."

Achim Breiling