Very fair from inky, and Baz, that "What something is for" is perhaps an aspect of "What something is" (or did you mean the other way round, inky?)
Another characteristic of music I wondered about, inspired by roslynmuse, is the aspect that there needs to be a shared experience. Is that true? Can I compose a piece of music for no one else but myself? If I wrote it down an stuck it in a box marked "To be opened only by Tommo in 2020" would that count? After all, the me now is a different person from the me in 2020 (I suspect, but how do I know?)"
And what about performer and audience distinction. I know from experience that performing is very different from just listening. Can a performer be the audience too?
Tommo
Many interesting ideas there Tommo. In particular your "time capsule" notion is very apt. Indeed, that is how (I think) we should be thinking of any music - especially from the past - that is performed. Usually when one opens a real time capsule, one finds memorabilia that give an insight into the age and time of the contents. But how often is that done with musical performances?
The general run-of-the-mill "performance" of, say a Mozart or Beethoven symphony is still one that sees it as a more-or-less contemporary product - usually performed with a 19th-c technique but in a thoroughly 20th-c manner (and I am not, of course, thinking of so-called HIP attempts which, generally,
have attempted to discover all the missing memorabilia (e.g. original instrumental techniques, source materials and so on) that inform a deeper understanding of such music).
Were you to place a composition into a time capsule, and mark it to be opened in 2020, would you have left any clues to those who might find it as to your
intentions when composing it? Or do you think (as with many) that you would take a "do with it what you wish" view, leaving it essentially up to them?
Baz
