Meaning of instrumental music

Hi all

I am convinced that music, also instrumental music can have exact meanings or messages, at least in some symbolic way.

As an example I am convinced that Bach´s "Air on the G-string" is about something very specific.

For me that piece is about mercy. Or something like that. That is the best way I can describe it.

I believe that Platos´s allegory of the cave is actually true. The best music is an attempt to describe music that already exists in another dimension.

Thie earthly music may be more or less equivalent to the orginal.

It can however never be exactly the same as the original.

I wonder how the original "Air on the G-string" would sound like !

I wonder if there is anyone who knows instrumental pieces, that they feel are about something very specific ?

Rapsodie pour Orchestre et Saxophone - C.Debussy

Debussy is a master at creating mysterious, dreamy, alien atmospheres. As a saxophonist, it is a pleasure to let these dreams come alive.
However, everything has to be exact and precise, otherwise the musical construction falls to pieces. . .

Please listen to this recording of, in my opinion, one of the greatest pieces in the saxophone repetoire, because words cannot describe the greatness of music.

Hi Maarten

You wrote :

On 20/2/2017 at 6:56 PM, Maarten Bauer said:

words cannot describe the greatness of music.

Maybe you can say that music can express that which words can´t express.

15 hours ago, Kimoworld said:

Hi Maarten

You wrote :

Maybe you can say that music can express that which words can´t express.

That's also true! I like discussing the relationship between (spoken) language and music.

On 2/18/2017 at 6:09 AM, Kimoworld said:

Hi all

I am convinced that ... instrumental music can have exact meanings....

For me [Bach's "Air on a G-string"] piece is about mercy. Or something like that. That is the best way I can describe it.

So..... it's not an exact meaning? 

On 2/18/2017 at 0:09 PM, Kimoworld said:

I believe that Platos´s allegory of the cave is actually true. The best music is an attempt to describe music that already exists in another dimension.

Whaaat? I mean, sure, why not? It's your interpretation, I'm not going to stand here and tell you its wrong or something, but I am surprised by the connection there.

But I do, as usual, find the idea of instrumental music having exact meanings rather dubious.

We're in a post-modern society where composer intent is just as important as the interpretation. Sorry, but this is why what we do isn't science. The outcomes of every experiment aren't repeatable.

I understand Monarcheon´s objections very well. They make sense.

However I am still sure that music can be about something very specific, although we may never know what that specific exactly is.

For example a music played in a minor key can be experienced as being sad.

So it´s meaning is to portray some kind of sadness. This is not so specific but still a meaning of some sort.

With symbolic meaning I mean that the music can describe certain energies.

I think it should be possible to describe any archetype-energy,

like for example

The mother, The father, Animus, Anima, The shadow....etc...

I conjecture there are infinitely many ways to describe a specific archetype.

Maybe the energies in the tarot can be described through music. At Least the Major arcana.

I tried to do this, this a long time ago, but did´nt get very far.

It was my intention to do this for all the Major arcana tarotcards, but only did one of them.

It's a fact, humans perceive the world, the way they "think" it should be..  So when they are confronted with something totally new, they try to find a box to put it into.. 

Yes, many composers have written things with very specific subjects, feelings, emotions.  

However the listener will 'color' the music into something he can (or cannot relate too)..  Some one might write something trying to emote, loneliness.. A listener might get dis-satisfaction, emptiness, meanlessnes, hopelessness, or even think it is implying an actual physical event took place. 

The beauty of music is that it can be interpreted many ways.. Some seasoned composers, are more adept, and controlling or steering the listener as to what to feel.. 

I've found a few pieces in my life, that will make me cry a few tears, or profoundly effect me in some way.  (it is some magic combination of the right notes, harmonies, the resonances and selection of instruments to produce it)

That to me is the pinnacle of composing when someone can directy steer the listener as to what to feel..  Yes, we all know the tricks of soaring strings, certain  harmonies, modal scale, or  pounding tympani's, are techniques used to move the people.. (we've been conditioned by so many pieces previously that use the same technique. 

My pet peeve now is all this video content for cable, web episodes..  and the use of bizarre Kontakt libraries.. and 'new composers' that are generally building orchestral sounding ''Leggo''music taking chunks of music data, riffs, themes etc, and stacking them together.  They aren't really scores anymore, just musical wallpaper, extremely dirivitive of something previous. AND like anything else, this has become a field into itself, so it gains it's own validity.. (and who the hell am I to make such a judgement, other than a frustrated unknown composer, still trying to hold on to 'old school methods'. 

But then out of all that, someone makes a discovery, and the point of current popularity, shifts, 

"The beauty of music is that it can be interpreted many ways."

Well said.

I remember one old piece uploaded to this site, that was called "Eternal Death".

I felt that piece was so creepy to listen to.

I don´t know if it is still here.

Maybe an insteresting point is that the music can sound the same, but you experience it each time in a different way.

To clarify: I listen every day to J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations; I only listen to one specific recording, so the music is always played exactly the same, because it is a recording, which cannot be changed very much (except sound volume). Puberty is great, but it can be hard too. There are days that I feel immortal and invincable, but there are also days that I feel desparate and sad. Depending on how I feel, I experience the music in a different way.