Musicality (''music
-al
In chemistry, the suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation o ...
-ity'') is "sensitivity to, knowledge of, or talent for
music
Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...
" or "the quality or state of being musical", and is used to refer to specific if vaguely defined qualities in pieces and/or genres of music, such as
melodiousness and
harmoniousness.
[Musicality]
, ''Merriam-Webster.com''. These definitions are somewhat hampered by the difficulty of
defining music, but, colloquially, "music" is often contrasted with
noise
Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference aris ...
and
randomness
In common usage, randomness is the apparent or actual lack of pattern or predictability in events. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps often has no order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. Individual rand ...
. Judges of contest music may describe a performance as bringing the music on the page to life; of expressing more than the mere faithful reproduction of pitches, rhythms, and composer dynamic markings. In the company of two or more musicians, there is the added experience of the ensemble effect in which the players express something greater than the sum of their individual parts. A person considered musical has the ability to perceive and reproduce differences in
aspects of music including pitch, rhythm, and harmony (see:
ear training). Two types of musicality may be differentiated: to be able to perceive music (musical receptivity) and to be able to reproduce music in addition to creating music (musical creativity).
Music vs. musicality
Many studies on the cognitive and
biological origins of music are centered on the question of what defines music. Can birdsong, the song structure of
humpback whale
The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hum ...
s, a Thai elephant orchestra, or the interlocking duets of
Gibbon
Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical rainforest from eastern Bangladesh to Northeast Indi ...
s be considered music? This is now generally seen as a pitfall. In trying to answer this question, it is important to separate between the notions of "music" and "musicality". Musicality – in all its complexity – can be defined as a natural, spontaneously developing set of traits based on and constrained by our biological and cognitive system, and music – in all its variety – as a social and cultural construct based on musicality. Or simply put: without musicality, there is no music.
However, it is still a challenge to demarcate precisely what makes up this complex trait we call musicality. What are the cognitive and biological mechanisms that are essential to perceive, make, and appreciate music? Only when we have identified these fundamental mechanisms are we in a position to see how these might have evolved. In other words: the study of the evolution of music cognition is dependent on a characterization of the basic mechanisms that make up musicality.
Colwyn Trevarthen has researched the musicality of babies, including its use in communication.
Colwyn Trevarthen - Human Nature and Early Experience
, ''Vimeo.com''.
Notes
*''Resources of a musician'': a notable musician draws from several essential resources: ''musicality'', ''material'' (voice, dexterity), ''practice'', ''education''
*''Relation to dancing:'' Musicality is also related to dancing, since musicality is essential for becoming a good dancer.
*''Relation to structure:'' Certain types of music have a regular inner structure, which a musical person is able to pick up intuitively. A viable musical structure is supportive of musicality.
See also
* Lead and follow (dance)
* Connection (dance)
* Dance theory
*Evolutionary musicology
Evolutionary musicology is a subfield of biomusicology that grounds the cognitive mechanisms of music appreciation and music creation in evolutionary theory. It covers vocal communication in other animals, theories of the evolution of human ...
References
External links
AABA: The Map to Swing Music
( Rusty Frank)
Understanding Musicality
academic symposium 2012.
Musicality and Genomics
academic symposium 2019.
{{Musical technique
Musical terminology
Choreography