The Importance of Good Questions

One thing that encouraged me to write the article for Jack's project was the list of questions he asked:

• Why do we make music?
• What function does it serve?
• Is there an absolute concept of music - an ideal form?
• If there is should we [be], or are we, forever striving towards that goal?
• And if so, is it ever attainable?
• Does music pre-exist, i.e. is there something called "Music" that we merely tap into when writing or performing?
• What is the value of music?
• How should we judge whether music is good or bad, or of greater or lesser importance?
• Can music be considered Art?
• What, if anything, differentiates Music from Sound?
• Does sound have to be culturally processed for it to become music, in the same way as flint must be processed for it to become a tool?
• What is it about music that makes us feel the way we do about it?
• Where did the musical behaviour come from?
• Is Music purely for entertainment?

If you've read some of my previous blog articles, such as this one, this one and this one, you will suspect that I sometimes get frustrated by the failure of music academics and music "scientists" to even ask the right questions, let alone provide any plausible answers. So seeing someone asking a series of questions, all of which made sense to me, and most of which my theory had something to say about, I took the opportunity to answer them.