What makes music good?

9/1/2010

For a conversation topic: What makes music good?

I believe that any music that conveys a genuine emotion to have inherent value. Now, I also believe that there is music that attempts to express an emotion, but it is not genuine--that is, it doesn't feel authentic. Of course this is subjective. However, I believe that a majority of people when listening to an authentic performance will be positively affected by the musician's emotion. Many times I have spoken to people about a musician or a band and have heard that when attending a live performance they "fell in love with their music" (or some other statement of high praise).

On a related note this, I believe, is one of the challenges of making recordings. Perhaps it is something akin to a photographer who can capture the beauty of a subject. Or, likewise, a photograph of a person or a scene will often fail to do its subject justice and provide a false impression of the subject's value. A great recording artist should be able to capture the emotional content of the musician, who otherwise may be more effective at expressing an authentic emotion when performing live.

It seems I've veered away from my original topic. However, I'm interested in what anyone who reads this journal might have to say on this subject.

8 Comments

Moses

9/1/2010 04:43:50 am

I think you obliquely address this, but there's a lot of music out there that could convey a genuine emotion, if the musician is good enough to do it.

I've had many experiences where certain artist(s)' performance just made me yawn but the same piece and arrangement played by another artist was spell-binding.

I've experienced this dichotomy with one artist playing the same piece: one day they may be spot-on and another they (or I) just don't feel the passion, even if they seem to be playing technically perfectly.

Finally, there have been times where I've listened to a performance (recorded) and absolutely loved it, and listened to it again on another day and hated it. My mood affects whether I think any given performance is "good."

To wit: I think the music, artist, and audience need to be all perfectly attuned to have music be great. If any one is off, it just doesn't work.

Anali

9/1/2010 05:03:23 am

I agree with both you, but I would go further to say that "good" music is created by forming an emotional connection between the musician and the listener. But it's not just the performance - it's also between the composer, the performer, the listener, the moods of each, the location, the medium, etc.

So part of what makes music good is how it suits or captures any particular moment in time. Or rather - the music itself might be good, but what's really at stake is the enjoyment of the music at that particular moment.

Jones

9/1/2010 09:39:39 am

I am a simple man, with no real background or training in music, so I don't think I can speak much to what MAKES music good. I am sure that everything mentioned above is part of it, and anything I might add would be redundant. As for as I am concerned, I know the music is good when it makes me tingle, for lack of a better term. I have often had the experience of listening to a piece of music, sometimes live, sometimes recorded, from any number of different genera's, and I feel a almost and electric tingle go through my body. Thats when I know it is good.

Chris

9/1/2010 09:47:20 am

Don't sell yourself short; your opinion on what makes music good is just as relevant as anyone else's. Besides, I know exactly what you mean by feeling of good music. The 'electric tingle' is something that many people experience in many circumstances--not just musical ones--where positive emotions are felt.

Anali

9/2/2010 02:23:54 am

Part of what makes music 'good' is that you don't need to be educated about music to appreciate it, in my opinion. With education, you can perhaps appreciate it further, but it shouldn't be required. For example, ignorant of art as I am, I appreciate a painting by Monet. An artist, however, can appreciate it on a more complex level than I could - regarding composition, techniques, medium, etc.

Lafter

9/2/2010 06:18:47 am

How crazy this experienced planet has come to evolve- who what and where all the priorities and power fall and resides. All the distractions of survival in America 2010, how very rare it is to let the mind and spirit relax and visit deep thoughts and emotions. (not like the emotions that were pounded into my head on every station every 5 minutes....) I feel like somehow humans have made music a limited resource. As the more we need it, the less we can find~ (sorry chris im all over the place) :: ALL I'M SAYING IS when a good show comes to town++++ take someone who really needs to go, show them- see? poeple really do this, share the magic, invite them into music.. you know that feeling you get as part of a collective whole before and after the performance? THESE ARE MY PEOPLE NOW!!! WE ARE MANY WE ARE STRONG..... lol- i hope that this reads correctly, or i may be banned from CPP.

Chris

9/2/2010 07:28:56 am

Lafter, I really like how you say that we've made music a limited resource... It's counter-intuitive because we (arguably) live in a society that drowns itself in music more than ever before in history. But I agree with you: there's so much music around us that we're often overwhelmed and sometimes we're not satisfied by the music that we consume. And when good music actually comes along, maybe we're not always capable of really appreciating it. Like a person that eats so much junk food all the time that they're not hungry any longer and when a really excellent dish comes along they can't enjoy it.

Peter

9/4/2010 05:32:20 am

I think that authentic emotion is part of good music, but better understood in the context of a given culture or audience. I think of music as a kind of language, with each culture and specific group of people having their own grammar, syntax, and assumptions for understanding and interpreting it. I don't think music is inherently good or not good; it is always good or not, intelligible or not, emotionally authentic or not to a given audience that "makes sense" of the music.

What makes music good?

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Chris Perry

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