The word music was derived from the Old French word musique around 1250 AD. Dates prior to that are unknown but musique came from the Latin musica, which came from the Greek mousike techne "art of the Muses." Mousike techne was derived from the word Mousa or "Muse." In Greek mythology, the Muses were the nine daughters of Zeus who presided over the arts and sciences. They were thought to have inspired those who excelled in their field. Today people meditate, or muse, to ponder things and receive inspiration.
Music is most similar to poetry. With both arts, the creator wants to convey a thought or an emotion that plain words cannot describe. When a poem is read one of two things happen to the reader. He is either moved by the poem or he feels nothing at all. If something is felt, then the author did his job in conveying his or her feeling. When a piece of music is performed, the performer must be able to emote and express certain feelings to the listener. If this is not accomplished, then the performer has failed. If the listener can say at the end of the piece, ?That moved me,? then the performer has been successful.
There are two main branches in the world of music: vocal music and instrumental music. In each branch there are different paths to take. A singer can do solo work or they can do choral work. In choral music, a choir is the instrument by which the music is performed. A choir is made up of several vocalists singing different parts to make beautiful sounds. A choir can be either large or small and can be made of several different combinations of voice parts; however, the standard choir arrangement is SATB or soprano, alto, tenor and bass.
An instrumentalist will usually play in a band or orchestra depending on the instrument in which he or she plays. In a band or orchestra several different families of instruments are meshed together in the joint effort to make music. Wind players are those who play a brasswind or woodwind instrument. General rule of thumb is if it?s big, shiny and has a hole facing you, it is a brass instrument. If a part of the instrument is in the players mouth or if fingers are flying all over the instrument and it is difficult to hear, it is a woodwind instrument. The only difference in a wind symphony and an orchestra are the strings, in a band, there are only brasswinds and woodwinds.
Of the two genres, instrumental music is the more pure form of music. In vocal music, words are used to tell the listener what to feel. Words are vocalized on different pitches to emote the vocalist?s feelings to others. When it comes to instrumental music, the musician has only sound to portray feelings and emotions to others. A musician has to make every sound that comes out of his instrument beautiful to tell the story.
There was a prestigious clarinet teacher at the Juilliard School of Music who suddenly had a position for one more student. He told his secretary to send out the announcement that there was one more position opened. A sign up sheet was posted and soon all the blanks were filled. When the day of the audition arrived, the professor sat as one by one each clarinetist performed a piece of music that showed off his or her technique and skill. The teacher was impressed by each young musician as they filed in and out. Then one young clarinetist came in with her clarinet and sat down. She played one solitary note, an A. The teacher listened and heard the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. When the note ended the teacher asked if the young artist had anything else to play. She responded, ?Yes, I?d like to play another A.? So she did, this time more beautiful and longer than the previous one. The teacher quickly told his secretary to cancel the rest of the auditions. He knew that if she could make one note sound that gorgeous then she would have no problem with anything else.
That young artist knew in her mind and heart what music is. It isn?t something that is showed off by the difficult pieces of music or fancy technique. Music is something that originates in the heart and is expressed through beautiful sound. It tugs at the heart pulling various emotions from the person who takes the time to listen not only with his ears, but with his heart and soul.