How can you differentiate between music and noise?

Question

I am doing a science project and hope to base it upon music.
I want to know what exactly makes music, music and not noise.
Is it frequency, pitch, volume? what?

Answer 1

First, I'm surprised at people who simply equate music as 'pleasant' and noise as 'unpleasant'. That's *way* too simplistic.

The sound of waves gently washing up on the beach, or the sounds of a forest (birds chirping, frogs croaking, trees rustling, a stream babbling) are considered by many people to be 'pleasant' ... but they are not "music." In fact, the sound of a bubbling, babbling stream is a classic example of 'noise' that most people find quite pleasant.

On the other side, there are many forms of music that many people consider 'unpleasant'. Many forms of free-form jazz, to the untrained ear, are unpleasant. Similarly with many modern compositional pieces. In fact, everyone has a favorite genre, artist, or piece of music that they find undeniabley 'unpleasant.'

As an art form, it is very difficult to define music in any scientific way. There are elements of pitch, harmony, and rhythm that have rules defined differently by different cultures, and of course experimental music that deliberately stretches, changes, or outright breaks those rules.

The term 'noise' *does* have a scientific definition. In the science of information theory it refers to information that is produced as a *side-effect* of the processes of creating or transmitting a signal ... and this applies to sound as well (such as the hiss that is audible in electronics ... this is information, but it is not information that is part of the signal being transmitted, but just a side-effect of the electronics themselves).

If you want to do an experiment that distinguishes between the two, I'd write a computer program that generates tones in either random or repeating sequences. Start with very simple rules (using simple intervals and repeating patterns using simple rhythms). Then try varying a few things (like mixing up major and minor intervals, or quarter-notes with eighth-notes, or increasing or decreasing the number of measures in a repitition.

When you have, say, five or ten little compositions, ask people to rate them in order of most to least "musical". And see if you find some patterns.

(E.g. I'm guessing that people will find too much repetition, or too little repetition, to be non-musical ... so that there's a favored range of repetition preferred among people. Or perhaps that people are willing to tolerate variations in rhythm more than variations in harmony (minor and major intervals mixed together.)

You might even want to compare young kids vs. people in their 30's or people in their 50's and 60's to see if there is a difference.

If you do this, *please* email me ... I'd be very curious what you find.

Answer 2

If Doggie puts her paws over her ears and crawls under the couch, it's noise.

Actually, the definition is somewhat indefinite. In general, music is the result of mathematically reasonable relationships between harmonics and parallel lines of tones. Music tends to be free of fringe harmonics and certain specific frequencies that are unpleasant, and not to be excessively loud.

You could try an experiment with a tape player and a big box like a washing machine comes in. Have people sit in there with headphones on and play some soft, soothing music, then some raucous, loud heavy metal music, and then some really objectionable noise like diesel engines, squealy noises, and people screaming. Ask each subject to record which they thought was pleasant, moderate, and unpleasant. Then do a summary to show how many people classified the loud rock music as "music" and how many people thought of it as "noise."

Have fun.

Answer 3

First define what noise is... Music tastes vary and one mans music is another's noise (heavy metal vs country or rap vs classical)

Nosie as in static of that of fan can be considered white noise which is a combination of every frequency across the human hearing range (20Hz to 20Khz)

A note played on a piano would generate a pure sine wave, there may also be harmonics or multiples of the base frequency at a lower amplitude.

Music would be a sequency of specific notes played in a pattern by one or more instruments (the voice may be considered an instrument)

If you were to perform a spectrum analysis of white noise you would see a horizontal line across the range of 20Hz to 20Khz meaning that an equal amount of each frequency is present. Music would have an irregular line in comparison to a white noise signature. Music instruments are playing very specific notes at any point in the song. I would expect to see frequency groupings associated with specific instruments. Also instruments which can play chords like piano, guitar etc would have multiple frequencies centered about the middle note of the chord. So analyizing frequencies for chord structure may be a way of distinguishing music from a sound produced by a machine.

Answer 4

well, music is like math you can hear. if the "equation" is not good, then the sound can't be "good"

there are frequencies that our ears can/cannot hear and there is a decible range that can/cannot be tolerated.

i'd say "music" would include sounds that make a pattern (have a good equation), be within frequency/decible tolerance...and noise would not.

but if you're talking about music as in genre...what is and what isn't music is subjective.

Answer 5

Music is fifth harmony
Noise is little mix

Answer 6

The differen iswhat music is touch istrument and noise is to beat istrument.

Answer 7

oh yes.. definitely ! i can just tell when a bunch of instruments are making noises .. and when they are churning out soulful melody :)

Answer 8

Sound that you like- music
Sound that annoys and ear pearcing- noise

Answer 9

music is enjoyable
noise is unbearable