Info

Defination of Music

Dance

Musical Note

Writing Music

Peforming Music

Rhythm

Writing Music

Music can be written in advance of a performance by a composer or songwriter, it may also be "traditional" and handed down "by ear" from individual to individual. Different musical traditions have different attitudes towards how and where to make changes to the original source material, from quite strict, to those which demand improvisation. If the music is written down, it is generally in some manner which attempts to capture both what should be heard by listeners, and what the musician should do to perform the music. This is referred to as musical notation, and the study of how to read notation involves music theory. Written notation varies with style and period of music, and includes scores, lead sheets, guitar tablature, among the more common notations. Generally music which is to be performed is written as sheet music. To perform music then, requires an understanding of both the musical style, and the performance practice expected.

A musician, then, is someone attempting to take material, written down or not, and produce sound which is musical to the listeners. They may be performing music which is close to the source, also called "interpretation", or alternatively the music may be, to a large degree and made up by the performers as they go along (improvisation), though most improvisation is usually within more or less strict boundaries.

Music can also be determined by describing a "process" which may create musical sounds, examples of this range from wind chimes, through computer programs which select sounds. Music which contains elements selected by chance is called Aleatoric music, and is most famously associated with John Cage and Witold Lutoslawski.