Musical and Social Meaning in the Fabric and Landscape of Music Part 1

Musical and Social Meaning in the Fabric and Landscape of Music

Part 1

Copyright © 2020 by Garen L. Wolf I 
Parts 1-18

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          There is a continuing argument among practicing musicians and music philosophers about what music is and what it communicates (if anything) and how its meaning (if it has meaning) relates (or doesn’t relate) to the real world around us. Music signs, triggers, codes and symbols that are believed by some to exist in the fabric of music are a discussion of much interest to 21^st century music philosophers. By the term the fabric of music I mean musical practices which are influenced from, protocols, interactions and gestures from religious, social and music performance practices and from content imbedded in the music part of music.  This fabric, that comes from inside and outside of the music, affects the way a person musics and it also influences the end result of his or her music performance and ipso facto the information that is transmitted from his or her religious musicing. 

These imbedded elements in the music part of the music, and the way the musicer musics, facilitates the understandable meaning that the musicing transmits to the listener even though these elements from its fabric and landscape may go partially or completely unnoticed by the uninformed performer and listener.  Thus the term fabric refers to imbedded (embodied) elements such as signs, codes and/or symbols in the musical content i.e. the music’s formal properties, and landscape refers to referential meaning (designated meaning) and from the extra-musical influences which are a part of the performance practice--combined they form the fabric and landscape that unavoidably imbeds and surrounds the musicer’s religious musicing.