What is music? what does it contain?

Human beings are the only animals who compose and perform music (an animal such as an ape which has been trained to "perform" is merely mimicking and responding to training.) Only a human being can imbue music with meaning in its performance and in the experience of listening to it. Birdsong is musical in the sense of having ordered pitches but it is not music. When we hear a great piece of music, it makes us feel an emotion or emotions the catalyst of which is already inherent in the music itself. This process is independent of any lyrics the music may have. I have chosen some examples of my favorite music to illustrate this point. There are those who insist that the experience of listening to and feeling music is entirely subjective; a piece that thrills one listener may leave another indifferent. This may be true, but just because a person is unmoved by a piece of music does not mean that the emotional catalysts are not there.

 KEYS
I seem to have a preference for the key of G minor. Mozart is said to have preferred either G major or G minor to other keys. This may or may not be related to absolute pitch, which unfortunately is the only thing shared by Mozart and myself. Keys remain an utter mystery after playing and studying piano my entire life. As a composer, I am aware that the same music sounds different when played in different keys.  

Classical  The Bach Keyboard Concerto in Fm contains all of human emotion in its three movements. This is true whether it is played on the harpsichord or the piano. The piano, being an infinitely more expressive instrument than the harpsichord, delineates these emotions profoundly. The hands, heart, and mind of Glenn Gould makes this all the more profound, together with a great orchestra and conductor. While most music can be moving even when played by performers who are less than virtuosi, any music is more powerful when played by a genius. Bach Goldberg Variations #25 and #21 (both in G minor) are quite different in tone from the other variations. Emotional intensity is created by intense chromaticism. #25 also foreshadows stylistically in its harmonies* the classical and romantic periods in Western music: if one listens carefully as one plays it, Wagner's unresolved half diminished appears followed by a Mozartian phrase.

 *created by the contrapuntal lines

 Chopin G minor Ballade
 [Note: I continue to struggle with this piece: my technique is barely adequate to execute it, even though I have the soul to express it!] From the age of 5 I grew up hearing this piece played by Artur Rubinstein. I came to love all of the Ballades, which are magnificent works and arguably Chopin's crowning achievement. For reasons I cannot explain, the theme of the G minor is one of the most beautiful I have ever heard. And the way it morphs into passionate cascades of sound is thrilling.

Mozart Symphony #40 in G minor    
Mozart Piano Concerto in D minor
Two other early favorites.

 Beethoven Pathetique Sonata (C minor) I played this in college when studying piano with Phyllis Moss.

Beethoven Symphony #9
 Bach The Art of the Fugue both keyboard version (Glenn Gould, organ, and Charles Rosen, piano) and orchestra version  

Jazz examples (after all, I am a jazz pianist) John Coltrane: Moment's Notice, I'm Old Fashioned, Giant Steps Miles Davis: My Funny Valentine, Someday My Prince Will Come, So What, Seven Steps to Heaven Bill Evans Trio: You Must Believe in Spring, B minor Waltz

Even atonal and microtonal music has the potential to move us (listen to Glenn Gould playing Schoenberg) Music with lyrics is specifically intended to move us. Sometimes, as in Bob Dylan's work, the lyrics stand alone as poetry, but they are given added power and dimension by the music. Lyrics are understood by a different part of the brain. The intellectual and the emotional are continually mixed in any music, with lyrics or not.  

Music is the sound that numbers make. The inherent mathematical structure of music can deceive us into regarding it as a product of the intellect alone. Some composers do indeed write music "by the numbers." But most of us compose music more intuitively. Part of the beauty and power of music is its symmetrical and mathematical underlying structure: there are 3 different diminished seventh chords, each with 4 inversions, to total 12 keys, and two whole tone scales (6 + 6) But music is so much more than its structure alone. (To be continued)