listening to, drinking, and misc...

[Matt Picone]

 >> What distinguishes music from noise?

There is only one answer: personal experience.

We bring to the act of listening a set of external conditions and 
components. Perception is nothing if not untransparent.

For example, I've at times experienced elaborately beautiful music 
inside of sound I might at other times consider to be noise. Such 
experiences need not be purely idiosyncratic; I remember when my DAW 
crashed at the first m at stock it made some noise which moved several of 
us: first to attend, then to listen, then to boogie. Surely music-- even 
if it's silent--is the only thing one can dance to.

I don't believe the number of participants need be greater than one for 
these phenomena to occur; nor do I believe that musical quality can be 
objectively measured by measuring the number or percentage of 
individuals which can be counted on to share its experience as music. 
Like music or noise itself, the shared experience will also have 
fundamental and overtone components across a spectrum of individuals, so 
it isn't even possible to quantify what people report they experience-- 
the boundary is nonexistent except instantaneously.

Perception makes music.

-m@