All right, I think I'm going to throw my two cents in here, and define what
music is (IMHO), by giving you the same spiel I give my 6th grade general
music class.  It begins with a little history.

The most primitive music was unorganized sound.  The first step towards
music as we know it was the invention of rhythm, and rhythm remains the
most basic kernel of music today.  In fact, without rhythm, there can be no
music, only sound (no matter how beautiful).  Rhythm (and beat or pulse)
organizes the music in time (where each tone falls, and its duration--and
where each silence falls, and its duration).

Shortly before the 10th century, singers in churches were faced with a
collection of dots on a page with words assigned to them.  There was much
guesswork and rote learning involved.  The staff and its highly organized
collection of lines and spaces evolved from this until we got our present
staff in about the middle 1300's (just before fellows like Dufay were
writing).  This organized the music in space, as well, as performers were
now informed of not only where the notes fell in time (the rhythm), but
also of how many cycles per second to produce either with voice or with
their instrument of choice (what note to play, basically).

To sum, there can be no music without rhythm, although there can be rhythm
without music (a simple metronome will show you that).  Music is simply an
organization of sounds in time and space.  True, this will sound antiseptic
and bland, but it is up to the human performers to add the emotion and
communication to the music (interpretation).

Now, to address some of the comments on the digest about this topic.
Someone said that a note is not music, merely a component, and that person
is right on the money, since the concept of a note is abstract; however, if
you PLAY a note, it becomes music, since you are giving that note its place
in time and space (you play a certain number of cycles per second, and you
play it for a certain amount of time).  Also, if you have a "collection of
notes", they will not be music unless they are in their proper space and
time.

Please remember, that this is merely a definition of the concrete
aspects of music.  The REAL music comes from the human component, the
interpretation, the communication of emotions, and the human spirit which
is so evident in the greatest of music.  So many times I have listened to
recordings (especially of Asian artists) that are absolutely perfect in
every way, but speak nothing.  They are barren wastes (much as someone
described HvK in an earlier digest this week with the analogy of the huge
edifice with no one living in it).  Of course, being the Black, Red, and
Gold blooded being that I am, I think HvK is much more than that, but that
is another thread (see, SOME Hvk enthusiasts can be objective!  *grin*)

Anyway, I am off to teach my private clarinet lessons, so I will bid you
auf Wiedersehen.  Take care, all.  I hope I helped.

Charles Dalmas
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http://www.winternet.com/~davion