Zoë Blade's notebook

Music

Music is a very subjective thing, and varies from one culture to the next. My following attempt to describe it is inherently going to be just one person's limited perspective.

In my experience, music has one or more of the following properties, in no particular order:

Essentially, music is a set of carefully constructed patterns of sounds, balancing a fine line between being too repetitive or too chaotic. Much of the craft of making music is about finding a good balance.

These are all simply general guidelines. You're welcome to explore and test their limits. A drum solo is pure rhythm and timbres, with no harmonies, melodies, or words. No chords, keys, or pitches of any kind. It's still very much music. At the other extreme, ambient music tends to focus on simple, repetitive harmonies that showcase their sounds, often with little to no real rhythms, melodies, or words. There are no rules, only experiments. Try things out!

Music theory: Arpeggio | Block chord | Broken chord | Circle of fifths | Interval | Music | Pitched tempos | Polymetre and polyrhythm | Rest | Swing | Velocity