SILO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

WHAT IS MUSIC?

Music is a Science. It is exact, specific and demands exact acoustics. A conductor's score is a chart, or graph, which indicates
frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody and harmony all at once and with the most exact control of time.

Music is Mathematical. Rhythmically, it is based on divisions of time into precise fractions which must be done instantaneously,
not worked out on paper.

Music is a Foreign Language. Most music terms are in Italian, German or French. The notational system used is certainly not English, but a highly developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas. Music itself is the most complete and
universal language.

Music is History. Music reflects the environment and time of its creation, including its national and ethnic sources.

Music is Physical Education. It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lips, cheek and facial muscles, and
extraordinary control of the back, stomach and chest muscles, which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the
mind interprets.

Music Develops Insight and Demands Research. Organized, independent thought is required.

Music is all of these things, but most of all....Music Is Art!! It allows a human being to take all these technical terms, facts, and
techniques and use them to create emotion. That is one thing science cannot duplicate: humanism, feeling, emotion, etc.