The purpose of this entry is simply to examine the phrase “That’s not music!”. These are common phrases that are often heard when somebody dislikes certain audio (usually hardcore/metal or rap) and wants to let everybody know about it.

I am going to refer to all of these genres as music whether you agree or not, just to make this easier. Ok, obviously if somebody likes a song by an artist such as Sarah Mclachlan (soft music) and the same person likes a song by As I Lay Dying (hardcore/metal), they like each song for very different reasons. This would also be the case with a rapper such as Master P.

Let’s examine:

Sarah Mclachlan: soft voice, harmony, “pretty” music, etc…
As I Lay Dying: rough voice, high energy, “heavy” music, rhythms, etc…
Master P: flow, rhythm, beats, lyrics, etc…

Now can we agree, hypothetically, we will say that you like light rock music with soft vocals. If that is the only genre that you like, then you probably don’t like “heavy” rhythms, rough vocals, high energy music and other similar characteristics…that doesn’t mean that because you don’t like it, it’s not music. Well, maybe by one of the definitions of music it could mean that. Let’s look at the definitions of music.

Music (Definition):

1. an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.
2. the tones or sounds employed, occurring in single line (melody) or multiple lines (harmony), and sounded or to be sounded by one or more voices or instruments, or both.
3. musical work or compositions for singing or playing.
4. the written or printed score of a musical composition.
5. such scores collectively.
6. any sweet, pleasing, or harmonious sounds or sound: the music of the waves.
7. appreciation of or responsiveness to musical sounds or harmonies: Music was in his very soul.

Looking at the first couple of definitions, we see that they indicate melody and harmony. That would initially rule out some (but not all) “heavy” music and rap, but as you look down the list that is not entirely the case.

We could go into great detail on the definition of music, but to save time I would like to focus on number 6. This definition basically states that if you personally like the music and it is pleasing to you, then it is just that: music. Does this mean that a song could be music to me but not to you?…maybe so, but that is more of an argument than a debate and that is not the purpose of this blog entry.

Something else that many biased people may not claim is that a large portion of “heavy” music and rap have rhythm, melody and even harmony. People that hear music that they do not particularly like may tend to instantly rule it out as noise.

So if you are a person who believes these genres are just noise:

Without going over every song of all of these genres, I can say that judging by definition, I personally believe that every genre could be and should be considered music. Even if you do not agree with me I think it is safe to say: many people like these genres and they probably like them for reasons different than the reasons you like your music. More people could get along musically if they were more open to other types of music, even if it is not what you consider music.

This also applies to people who think these genres cannot be Christian. I know for a fact they can, because I have seen people come to God in a bar with a hardcore/metal Christian band playing there. I have seen that many times. I believe that is necessary for some people.

In Conclusion:

This may not be a professional blog entry on this topic, but I am just trying to help end this battle between people over music. In the end, it really does not matter, so all I am trying to say is: why not be more accepting of other peoples music? You don’t have to like it, but at least give it a chance. I may elaborate on this blog entry later, but for now I am going to leave it at this. Feel free to comment, but please don’t be a jerk.