What is Music?

Music is organized sound.

On it’s surface, this answer is incredibly dry. How could music, which inspires so much emotion and passion in us, have such a cold, sterile definition?

Why would anyone want to organize sound? Why would anyone want to listen to organized sound? Is it possible, and does it matter, if the listener and organizer have different answers to these questions? What is the relationship between music and the rest of our lives? To poetry? To narrative? To dance? To emotion? Isn’t language also organized sound? What does a piece of music mean? What do we mean by a “piece” of music? Is musical meaning universal or context-dependent? How do facts about acoustics, biology, cognition, memory, the overtone series, and time relate to music theory, practice, and experience?

I would like to explore these questions.