onhwy61, I don’t think there’s a single, absolute definition of either that we can all agree on. Some academics define music as "the art of sound." I find that broad. In school I heard a lot of post WWII classical compositions that I found to be bad and some which I would not call "music" because they lacked the presence of intelligent or organized elements of melody, harmony and/or rhythm. I think a man sitting at a drum kit or a pair of tablas is totally capable of creating music without melody or harmony--but it’s incumbent upon him to do something interesting. A guy sitting at a drum kit and playing a polka accompaniment with no melody, to me, is not making music. He’s giving you one piece of a puzzle that could be music if successfully fitted together. Whereas Roy Haynes or Tony Williams could play a drum solo which would amaze and delight with its imagination, taste and technical prowess.
There’s also the question of emphasis--in a poetry recitation or a rap performance the emphasis is on the spoken voice. Any music present is secondary to the voice, more so than if the person were singing and had an accompaniment based on some notion of harmonic interaction with the changing pitches of the voice. If David Byrne were to rap "Psycho Killer" with only the recorded electronic drum track behind him it might be great "performance art," but it’s hardly musical--just boring, repetitive rhythms with a boring, droning voice speaking. When he sings a melody and has a guitar playing chords behind him on the same piece it is music, to me. When the Red Hot Chili Peppers have a pure rap vocal over a funky music bed that’s a hybrid of music and rap IMO. And I do like that one tune ("give it away, give away, give it away now..."). I think its success lies in the fact that the the music is very good and the rap is very good (and they go together well in this case). I can’t think of another example of a pure rap that grabs me like that.
For those who think "everything we do is music," including all speech, industrial sounds, squeaking doors, barking dogs, etc., that’s all well and good, but then the word has no special meaning--it then is synonymous with "sound," so why even have the word "music" at all? Just say "sound."
Thanks for your time. Let’s do "rock and roll" a bit later, if you don’t mind.
