This is my first public post about this topic...been lovin' it....
Bambi wrote:
On the listener's side of things, a piece of music is a collection of
accoustic patterns generating feelings. On the musician's side of things, a
piece of music is a collection of accoustic patterns transcribing feelings.
[Our conversation stopped at this point]
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When I first read that, I said 'exactly'...but now that I think of it, this quote misses one side of music a bit. The verb 'transcribing' applies to your friend's beloved classical music or to electronic music very well in fact, and if the world of music consisted of only these forms, then your quote would simply explain everything. What the quote doesn't hit is the experience of 5 or 10 people jamming on stage - for them that experience is generating feelings, and the music being played is a product of that generation, a sum greater than the total of its parts....the thing that would be doing the 'transcribing' in that situation is the recording technology.
That's the beauty of improvisation/grooving -
spontaneous eruption of the soul.
Jay B