The feelings that some piano music evokes in me...

[wes_56]

Our bodies are made for music. Without music, the world will be a much duller place.  Every known civilisation has had some form of music, whether it be primitive or sophisticated. IMHO, music does not seem to be an evolutionary accident.

Some music just resonates in me. I attempt to describe the feelings I have for certain piano music composers after hearing some of their music:

Bach's music is mathematically precise.
Mozart's music  is sweet, child-like.
Beethoven's music is powerful, energetic, profound.
Mendelssohn's music is lyrical.
Chopin's music is elegant, poetic, refined. [Give me Chopin anytime.]
Alkan's music is complex and virtuosic. [How can I forget Alkan in this forum?]
Schumann's music is dark and somewhat depressive.
Liszt's music is showy, flamboyant and highly technically demanding. [How come he attracted so many women?]
Tchaikovsky's music is Romanticism at its best. [Who can forget his piano concerto #1?]
Debussy's music is dreamy.
Rachmaninov's music is passionate, warm, virtuosic and complex. [Thank you, Rachmaninov, for Rach 2 and 3. Life would be incomplete without Rachmaninov]
Gershwin's music is a little laid back, playful and a little naughty.
Ravel's music is mysterious and dissonant.

Of course, I have not mentioned Scalatti, Scriabin, Schubert, Grieg, Satie, Brahms, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Bartok [not in chronological order] and many others. Where would classical piano music be without them?

Disclaimer:  I am being too simplistic and biased in this message. Each composer has produced so many works that it does not do justice to them just by describing their works in one or two words. Subjectivity in appreciating music reigns throughout in this message [and possibly in this forum] !!!

Cheers! Long live music!!

Wesley

[donjuan]

So what is the point you are trying to make so we can start debating and throwing digital chairs at eachother?
donjuan

[wes_56]

Hi don juan,
Nothing much, except just to say that we are made to feel music and after listening to certain music, they just have a magical and divine touch to them.
Let there be peace on earth, and let there not be digital chairs thrown around. There is enough chaos on earth, let's make peace our aim.

Wesley

[faulty_damper]

Nope.  Disagree based on evidence.  We were not made to [feel] music - rather "music" made us.  By "music" I mean a series of vibrations that created what we now classify as "life".  This "music" was the stimuli of a bunch of 'stuff'.

Anyway, I'll just paste a reply that I started about what music was but never bothered to finish.  It's pretty much incomplete but any inteligent person should understand it and can see that it is a genealogy of 'stuff':

Why is music important?

To answer this question, we have to examine the effects of music.  First, by examining the fundamental laws of movement:

1.  An object at rest stays at rest until acted upon by another object.

What does this mean?

       Before life was formed, there were only objects - we are made out of these objects.  Because objects do not move unless moved and we move, we must conclude that something moved those objects and ultimately moved and continues to move us.  What is that something?  That something is most likely vibrations caused by the movement of the earth as the structures of the earth were being formed by volcanic activities and earthquakes.  These are the causes of the vibrations that moved the objects.  
       Through time, these vibrations moved these objects together into objects that interact with each other because of the object's fundamental properties such as electron interaction - they attract or repel - or they are neutral.  When they attract, they form a combined object; when they repel, they do not combine but stay apart.  When neutral, its proximity to other objects does not matter.
       Over time, the vibrations of the earth moved other objects together and the interaction of objects upon other objects continued to take place.  However, not all vibrations were the same.  Some vibrations caused certain combined objects to break apart.  Other vibrations caused objects and combined objects to come together which allowed for a larger combined object.  [The larger the CO, the greater the effect the CO has on other objects.  ]
       Keep in mind that the individual objects that comprise CO are fundamentally attracted to each other so they would be attracted to each other and form a CO without any involvement of external stimuli if they were in close enough proximity to each other.  But, in order for them to be close enough to each other, external stimuli must be applied - something must move them close to each other and that is the vibrations of the earth or the repelling of other objects.  Some objects repel each other so no matter what moves them close to each other, they will fundamentally be apart but they can repel objects toward another object that attracts forming a CO.  Other objects are neutral so they have no preference where they are in relation to other objects and combined objects.
       Continuing with the continuity of time, the objects which combined into combined objects (CO) which combined with other CO, formed what we now call a protein.  These proteins interact with other proteins because of its fundamental functions: attract, repel, remain neutral, or a combination of the three since the proteins are comprised of individual objects.  Still, at this point, the vibrations of the earth continue to move these proteins as well as other objects and other CO.
       Further forward in time, these proteins continue to interact and once in a while, form into larger and larger combined proteins.  These combined proteins become increasingly more complex in structure and increasingly more discriminatory in interaction - they will only interact with certain other objects and other proteins as the individual objects within the protein are preoccupied with other objects already within the combined protein structure.

[donjuan]

Wesley's idea is certainly unique, but preachy and  out worldly.  Faulty_damper is also on to something...however, I dont care for science on this piano forum, so if I were a redneck, I would say, way downt naid eny mour-uh yo kand round thase parts, boy!  
donjuan

[donjuan]

anyway, back on topic...I agree with Wesley in that humans and music go hand in hand, however, I find it difficult to accept the "Peace on Earth" claim.  There is so, so, so much music having to do with war, revolution, triumph, love, sex, and other passionate things not associated with peace.  I think, to apreciate peace, one must have hardship experiences, or life altering trauma.  Music would be so boring if it only focussed on how peaceful things are.  If all music were peaceful, the whole world would be peaceful.  No one would come to recitals to experience peae because they are already surrounded by it in normal-every-day life.
donjuan

[wes_56]

Hi donjuan,
I think I did not make myself clear in my previous posts. Perhaps, one of the aims of making music is to let mankind reflect on their thoughts, motives and actions. Perhaps, music is one of the ways to promote peace on earth.  I hope that music does not bring strife.
If all music is peaceful, then music is not worth mentioning. Climaxes, crescendos, soft passages, violent playing make music an exciting medium for an artist to express and paint his emotions and "agendas".

Wesley

[donjuan]

Ok Wes, I get it.  You believe music is a language all on its own and can connect people from anywhere to promote harmony on earth.  Thats a great idea.  I wish it actually worked.  However, this would make the world more peaceful, and perhaps the exciting aspects of violence in music would never exist.  Maybe we can combine ideas and maybe people from all over the world can peacefully enjoy violent music, if that makes any sense.
donjuan

[donjuan]

Ok Wes, I get it.  You believe music is a language all on its own and can connect people from anywhere to promote harmony on earth.  Thats a great idea.  I wish it actually worked.  However, this would make the world more peaceful, and perhaps the exciting aspects of violence in music would never exist.  Maybe we can combine ideas and maybe people from all over the world can unite to peacefully enjoy violent music, if that makes any sense.
donjuan