Composing Music - Invention or Discovery?

[Johnny BoomBoom]

I'm still sticking with the journey idea!

No, please gents, now more Route 66 etc song titles please!

 

[Secksay]

so if everythign is just repeated riffs and motifs, then what im wondering is one person had to be the first person to play that riff. did he discover it or invent it. In other words, did the first person that ever played music invent music, or discover it.

(talk about answering a question with a question)

 

[Hugh Jazz]

Originally posted by john turner
musical discussion -> miscellaneous.

I think this has been the most meaningful contribution to the discussion.

 

[Eulogist]

^maybe that's because people would rather bitch and nitpick posts than listen to others and participate in a discussion

i'm starting to believe that a forum full of musicians might not be an environment conducive to intelligent debate

 

[Eulogist]

then again, I posted the very same topic in a forum called NCMetal and it spawned a healthy discussion with many interesting views expressed

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally posted by Richard Lindsey
The dichotomy is a false one to begin with.

This is the only possible or necessary answer to this question!


"I posted the very same topic in a forum called NCMetal and it spawned a healthy discussion with many interesting views expressed"


I think this is an answer in itself........ bye, see you then!!

 

[Eulogist]

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Can't take a hint then?

 

[sleazylenny]

Hmmmm.....curious.....I've seen less dissent than this shut down threads before. Why does this one still draw breath?

I agree with the false division theory. Invention and discovery are not mutually exclusive. In fact they are essential to each other. Edison wanted to invent an electrically powered source of light. He, through much trial and error, DISCOVERED that a particular type of filament in a vacuum did what he wanted.

He didn't invent light (music)

He did invent a way to produce light ( a type of music)

He discovered the means to produce it ( rhythms, chords, melodies to produce the effect desired.)

My 5 cents ( inflation y'know )

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally posted by sleazylenny
Hmmmm.....curious.....I've seen less dissent than this shut down threads before. Why does this one still draw breath?

I've never seen a thread shut down for "dissent" - I think most would be very boring indeed without this - if averybody assented and agreed then where's the debate?

What gets threads shut down is name-calling and politics/religion!

 

[moley]

...and where would we be without the inveterate dissenter himself?

I could start a thread entitled "The world is round. Discuss" and he'd manage to turn it into an argument

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Oh no I wouldn't !!

 

[moley]

Oh yes you would!!

Look, see, you've gone and done it again Bruce!

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

"Is this just the 5-minute argument or the full half hour?"

 

[moley]

LOL. I think this one can stay at 5 minutes

 

[john turner]

Originally posted by sleazylenny
Hmmmm.....curious.....I've seen less dissent than this shut down threads before. Why does this one still draw breath?

dissent shutting down threads? really? where?

 

[thrash_jazz]

Originally posted by moley
...and where would we be without the inveterate dissenter himself?

I could start a thread entitled "The world is round. Discuss" and he'd manage to turn it into an argument

Really? I wonder if the INVERTEBRATE DYSENTERY would do that...

Ah, probably...

 

[Wil Davis]

I posted this in another forum, but I think it to be apropriate here also:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

- Wil

 

[stephanie]

My 2 cents into the topic: Composing music - Invention or Discovery? I think both, neither, all of the above. Depends on how you look at it. I'd like to say a piece I've written I invented...and, yet, all the notes that were put into making the piece, and all the theory, has always been there. I didn't invent it. Did I discover something new? Maybe? But...We say that Columbus discovered America. How did he discover something that was already there (and inhabited)? On a personal level he founded something new to him and gets the credit for it. He didn't create land out of thin air. All the songs we hear on CDs and the radio were created by individuals and they (at least mostly heh) all sound different, yet all the theory that went into these songs were always there, neither invented nor discovered by these individuals, who half of them probably may not even know theory.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[luisnovelo]

Composing music is by no means a type of discovery. No musical composition would ever exist if is not created by someone.


Maybe The Invention VS. Discovery discussion could be applied to the Major scale or even more to the chromatic scale.