Musicality

I restarted playing music a few months ago after many years of not doing much, and I realised something important. It didn’t come directly from playing my instrument though, but from learning more about music theory.

What I realised is that music is not defined by the instruments or tools used to create it, but by its ability to sound musical, no matter if it was made by a guitar, a piano, a computer or a set of spoons.

As EDM and electronic music in general are becoming more and more popular, we hear people say things like “this is not real music because they just sit in front of a computer and don’t play any instrument”, and I think that it doesn’t make any sense to say such things. Because no matter how we make the music, we get access to the same audible frequency range and the same set of basic rules. Which means that we have access to the same old notes, chords and scales that a piano or any ensemble of instruments would.

For people that don’t know much about music theory, this means that some sound frequencies fit well together and some others don’t depending on the “space” that separates them. So a chord that sounds good on a piano will also sound good on a guitar, and it will also sound good on whatever computer with whatever sound effect, because they are based on the same frequency logic.

With that little knowledge, we can now say that making music is not about playing an instrument, but rather about building sequences of sound frequencies (“notes”) in a way that is pleasing to the ear of the listeners (music is generally made to sound good, although there are exceptions). So in the end, as long as the rules are acknowledged by the creator (consciously or not), it doesn’t matter if the sounds were produced from a physical instrument or from an electronic device.

It is very possible that someone may not like electronically produced sounds and prefer the sound of “real” instruments, and this is perfectly fine. But it would be wrong to label electronic music as inferior to traditional music because of the process and tools used. Good electronic music producers, just like good traditional musicians, have to work many hours to find the best ways to make their music sound good. They may or may not know music theory, but it doesn’t stop anyone from making pleasing sounds. Although, it is all in the ears, someone with a well trained ear will be able to make good music, no matter by which means they create it.

If we took a Beatles song, and recreated its melodies and rhythms into a DAW software (Digital Audio Workstation), the song would most likely sound very different, and some people may like it and some others may not. But the overall feel of the song would be the same, because the music stays the same.

What I am trying to say with all this is that good music is not necessarily music that we like. Even though I don’t consider myself a fan of 70’s/80’s/90’s rock music in general, it is hard for me to not sing along when I hear a Bon Jovi’s song on the radio. Do I listen to this music at home when I can listen to anything else I want? No, but these songs have something “catchy” about them, and now that I know a little more about music theory, I’m able to understand that it all comes from a right combination of notes at the right moment. While we could argue about if Bon Jovi is or isn’t “good”, or that we like it or not, there is no denying that the band itself (and possibly the sound engineer(s)) did something right to make songs that were this popular.

So for any type of music, electronic or traditional, the same processes and methods apply, it involves a lot of trial and errors and a lot of time invested to come to the end result of something that sounds good. In that way, I think that all musicians should at least be respected for their efforts, even if we don’t appreciate their creations.

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