The meaning of music

Do the sounds in music have inherant, built-in meanings? Or do we come to attach meaning to music purely by association?

I'm thinking a cross between the two. The key of D minor apparently sounds sad by default because of the way our brain is wired, for some reason. Indeed, when an orchestra tunes up and someone plays the sequence A, F, D, I can't help but think that the combination of those three notes sounds especially sad.

Then again, if you associate a feeling or memory with a piece of music then on listening to it again you can vividly re-live that feeling or memory, although the effect does wear off after a while. It's a bit like Pavlov's Dogs, where he conditioned them to associate the ringing of a bell with food. Thus, after a time, they began salivating when the bell rang regardless of whether there was any food around.

What are your thoughts?

There was once an Eastern potentate who on a visit to London was taken to a symphonic concert. His favourite piece, which apparently had the most meaning for him, was the tuning-up at the start. Make of it what you will.

The sound of music doesn't have a meaning. Mathematically speaking, it's just a whole bunch of sine waves travelling through mid-air. (It's interesting to note that some 'sounds' aren't actual sounds. Imagine the sound of a major third, played simultaneously. Yet it's just two wave sine waves with different periods simultaneously entering our ear.) To an alien civilization, understanding our music would probably be very difficult.

The human mind has a certain way of reacting/recognizing to certain (combinations) of sounds. Most 'advanced' civilizations basically use the same collection of tones (cf. raga's and the Western scale system).

I have no idea where this post is heading...

I've always found D minor particularly underwhelming, actually. My favourite minor keys are B, C, F, and F-sharp. (And even then I don't necessarily find that they sound unhappy, or indeed my favourite major keys - A, D, E-flat, E, and F - the opposite). It's pretty subjective. Not to mention variable.

And yeah, the association with memory can be important as well. Much as it pains me to admit, if my parents hadn't exposed me to classical music when I was very young, I don't know whether I would have wanted to explore it later on. (Although, then again, I am a classical musician mostly of my own volition - and I never had the same fondness for jazz music, though my father undoubtedly would have made me listen to that also.)

I'd go with D-flat, E-flat, and B-flat as my favored keys, though I'll often use G major and F major too. I find their tones to be rich without being too bright.

I can tell you one thing music means: a high E played on a violin means that a bow has been drawn across a certain violin string that was being pressed at a certain point. Now that IS a definite meaning that can be proven.

I don't know how relevant this is, but somehwere i (it might even have been on this website) read an interesting article about why our music is the way it is. It said something about how music reflects our environment. So music is representative of the sounds and sights of what is around us. A timpani roll, for example, might be representative of thunder. The author also wrote that if animals had (or have) music, it would be totally different for this reason. This also explains the large differences in music from different cultures. Big cities, with their large skyscrapes and huge amounts of traffic and noise, would have music that contrasts with that of, say, a tribe in the middle of Africa.

I believe it's a mixture like Mike says, although I don't think anyone quite knows what causes it.

Btw, does anyone see colours for keys?

I can't help seeing red for D minor

Yep. Not in terms of full-fledged synaesthesia, but just in colours that naturally seem inseparable from keys. Again, though, subjective.

Huh. I just reflected on this a bit, and I've realised I haven't a red key. Astonishing. But wait, there is a pink one (however much I may dislike the colour itself). Actually...wow...start from C and work up its scale. The first three notes or corresponding major keys are for me associated with pale versions of the three primary colours. The next three are bright versions of the three secondary colours. And then B is dark brown, or a combination of all the rest. Neat.

Probably a coincidence, though, considering.

My most absolutely hands down favorite note in the world is the f sharp. Oh how I love my g flats.

Also on color, i do see color when listening to music and somethimes shapes, though it is all definitely abstract. G major reminds me of green or is it because G major starts with g? well D major makes me think of a reddish brown. A flat more of a clear white/silver. Though it depends on my mood.

Also Michael Torke see's colors when he listens to music. He even made a collection of orchestral pieces named after each color.

And then there's Messiaen...

Query: Does a melody going C, A, B, B, A, G, E mean 'cabbage'?

Depends on whether the music speaks English, I suppose.

The sounds of music? You mean single chords and/or tones? I doubt they have any meaning, but it is how you use them to create a melody and harmony that makes music ''meaningfull''. But i'm a spiritist, don't listen to my mindless ramblings. :shifty:

I'd be a shaman but I don't make regular travels to the other world (except through dreams) or help the dead enter heaven. I'd be more of a medicine man but my culture doesn't recognize me as such. I'm basically in limbo. Maybe the same place your spirits are.

Gongchime

Btw, does anyone see colours for keys?

I can't help seeing red for D minor

I see Blue for D Major & Red for D Minor. Whereas for B Minor it's definitely Black or Grey.

A Major - One would think the key of love would be Red but I don't see it. So yeah D & B are the only keys I ascociate colours with.

Akhil G.

Hmm well i see blue and green for A and E major.

It's possibly an association we've made at some point...like. just an example.

Say I watched someone playing Mozart's A major violin concerto in a blue shirt(which i actually have, although that was only recently).

Then I might be reminded of blue in A major pieces.

That's only a possibility... I'm no psychologist, so I don't know what else it could be.

It's easy to trick yourself. Do you guys also identify the colors with the keys when tested 'blindly' (i.e., when someone else is playing a tune you don't know the key of)?

Obviously I don't because I don't have perfect pitch.

However, I may get a similar feeling about the colour if the tune was played on my piano because i have a feeling for its sound and tuning.

It's easy to trick yourself. Do you guys also identify the colors with the keys when tested 'blindly' (i.e., when someone else is playing a tune you don't know the key of)?

(My sense of pitch isn't perfect - just very good.)

My favorite chords are D-molished and E-gads. My favorite scale is the richter scale.

Gongchime