Essay, Research Paper: Extended Definition Of Music

Music is the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity, as explained in the Webster s Dictionary. But music is much more than sounds, tones, and combinations. Music can contain messages of peace, wrong doings, world hunger, or problems with the government. Both rap artist and country singers write music about experiences and lifestyles and a large number of people enjoy the feelings and the moods they experience when listening to music.
There are many artists that have written many songs containing messages. One song in particular conveyed a message of peace; it is called Heal the World , written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie. This song was a collaboration of many artists and it helped millions of starving children around the world to put food in their stomachs so they could be able to survive.
Another collaboration of many rap artist, including Rah Digga, Busta Rhymes, Common Cense, De La Soul, Sporty Thieves, and Pharomonch, created a song called Tribute to Amadou Diallo. In this song the artist put a message of police brutality and they sang about the death of Amado Diallo on their song. Bruce Springsteen sang a song called American Skin. This song was very controversial because a part of his song referred to the 41 shots Amadou Diallo was hit with. Some New York City associations even tried to boycott Bruce Springsteen last concert performances at Madison Square Garden because of that song and its content. There is also another group called Rage Against the Machine. They have many messages in their songs; they speak out and address concerns against inner-city deprivation, racism, censorship, propaganda and much more. This band strives to bring more than just entertainment to our society.
Music can also tell about a person s lifestyle or about what kind of problems they have or have had in life. For instance, many country singers sing about lovers, man trouble, broken marriages, and bad relationships; not to say that other kinds of artist don t sing about that stuff because they do, country singers are just a great example. When it comes to singing about what kind of lifestyle an artist has or had, rap artist are the perfect example. For example Big Pimpin (the last single from a well-known artist called JZ) was a song mostly about how much money JZ had and how he lived so wonderfully with many beautiful women. In Beanie Seagels latest album (another well known rap artist) he talks about growing up in the hood and having to resort to crime like robbing and drug dealing to make a living because of the poverty stricken environment he lived in. There are also many vibes and feeling you can get from listening to music. For example say someone is in a dance club and they are hearing a loud and fast pace song, they wouldn t normally go sit down to a song like this; they would feel happy and go to the dance floor and dance to the fast pace song. Or if they don t dance they would at least be tapping their foot or bobbing their head. If a person is listening to a slow pace song like soft classical or R&B music, they would probably be more mellow and have a relaxed type of feeling, the kind of music they might want to fall asleep to.
Music can make people dance, be mellow, happy, or sad and can even save people lives. In conclusion the word music has a far greater definition then the dictionary has to offer.