The question of energy

The question of energy in music is vexing: easy to say, hard to define. One way of looking at energy is to bring forward traditional concepts from physics and everyday life. In physics, there are a number of categories of energy, some of which directly relate to music, some of which create interesting parallels to music. The main one is kinetic energy, the energy of movement. Musical events move quickly or slowly, obviously carrying an energy parallel to kinetic energy in physics. Clearly rhythm is directly tied to movement.

Much of our language is tied up in metaphor, using words and concepts drawn from one field of experience to account for another, and our existing music terminology is deeply metaphorical. It therefore occurs to me that we might make significant strides in understanding – or at least accounting for – musical energy in terms of how its actions resemble the varieties of energy as studied in physics.  I’m going to explore this topic over a series of posts in the near future.  For now, a light venture into the subject.   

In physics, we say an object has stored energy that is released on falling, while in music, for instance, a soft bass drum has the potential to get very loud.  Potential energy is then another parallel between music and physics. In physics, the potential is there regardless of our experience, but in music our memory and knowledge inform our awareness of potential. Whatever we have experienced, whether in a single piece, the music of a group, of a composer, or style, even sounds not normally heard in music will create expectations – intellectual energy – when that memory is ignited by a current listening experience. This is a vast subject in need of exploration.

I have heard it said that the human brain/mind is the ultimate pattern seeker (see this review of The Pattern Seekers by Simon Baron-Cohen), and likewise that the mind is constantly seeking to predict and prepare for the next event. Therefore, whatever makes a pattern in music – whether rhythm, pitch, timbre, register, articulation – some level of expectant energy is generated regarding its continuation. Recent studies have shown that non-musicians perceive rhythmic subtleties just as well as trained musicians, so it is not idle speculation that the energies generated by rhythmic patterns are widely shared (not to say identical). In fact, given the partial list of possible pattern-makers just begun – and we could add more – one can comprehend already that music offers us a number of differing, yet interrelated patterns that create amazing depth and subtlety in the listening experience.

The recognition of high sophistication among untrained listeners, the depth of experience created by all those pattern-makers excites me. I am glad to live in this time, when the study of pitch and pitch structure so emphasized by western classical study is finally being matched by study of other factors that contribute heavily to the total experience.  To me, it all comes together in the question of energy, starting from the premise that mental involvement is energy…. More to come!