Understanding Music

Music is one of the most complex forms of communication there is, and unless you're listening to a recording alone in a dark room, no two performances are even close to the same. The old adage, "goes in one ear and out the other" is literally true. Once the music has happened, it'll never be heard the same way again. Ever.

However, music can be written down so that the printed form is exactly the same every time you look at it. Music uses a "system" for recording the notes to be played, the relative speed and volume in which they're to be played and the musical instruments to be used to play them -- which includes the human voice. But because there are no two human beings who think, feel or do things exactly the same way as a machine might, this infinite human variability creates the wonderful potential for different performances of the same pieces of music. Likewise, there is infinite variability in those that hear the music, too. This dual-variability is why music is so complex -- it's never performed the same nor is it ever heard the same. But it always communicates something in the process. This paper is intended to help you understand how music is designed by the composers so that you'll be able to listen for specific kinds of musical nuances which, in turn, will help you design visual representations of what you hear with your ears.

Geometry

Stand in front of your display where your viewers might be and just look. Your yard/house/shrubs, etc. all have 3D physical properties. There's left-to-right width, top-to-bottom height and front-to-back depth. Likewise, most people have a head that turns left and right (width), up and down (height), and eyes that can focus close and far away (depth). Can you see everything all at once, or do you have to move something to view an object on the left side of your house, or the top of your roof, or the base of your front steps, or the bicycle by the garage? Well, it's quite obvious how lights can be used to move the viewer's attention from one place to another in your display, isn't it?

Music can do the same thing, but auditorily because the ears on either side of your head can discern left-right, up-down, near and far dimensions, too. When you couple the music to the visual effects, it opens a whole new and pleasurable experience for the viewer.