Music

mu·sic   (myōō'zĭk)    n.   The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre. Vocal or instrumental sounds possessing a degree of melody, harmony, or rhythm. A musical composition. The written or printed score for such a composition. Such scores considered as a group: We keep our music in a stack near the piano. A musical accompaniment. A particular category or kind of music. An aesthetically pleasing or harmonious sound or combination of sounds: the music of the wind in the pines. [Middle English, from Old French musique, from Latin mūsica, from Greek mousikē (tekhnē), (art) of the Muses, feminine of mousikos, of the Muses, from Mousa, Muse; see men-1 in Indo-European roots.]

Music

Mu"sic\, n. [F. musique, fr. L. musica, Gr. ? (sc. ?), any art over which the Muses presided, especially music, lyric poetry set and sung to music, fr. ? belonging to Muses or fine arts, fr. ? Muse.]

1. The science and the art of tones, or musical sounds, i. e., sounds of higher or lower pitch, begotten of uniform and synchronous vibrations, as of a string at various degrees of tension; the science of harmonical tones which treats of the principles of harmony, or the properties, dependences, and relations of tones to each other; the art of combining tones in a manner to please the ear.

Note: Not all sounds are tones. Sounds may be unmusical and yet please the ear. Music deals with tones, and with no other sounds. See Tone.

2. (a) Melody; a rhythmical and otherwise agreeable succession of tones. (b) Harmony; an accordant combination of simultaneous tones.

3. The written and printed notation of a musical composition; the score.

4. Love of music; capacity of enjoying music.

The man that hath no music in himself Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. --Shak.

5. (Zo["o]l.) A more or less musical sound made by many of the lower animals. See Stridulation.

Magic music, a game in which a person is guided in finding a hidden article, or in doing a specific art required, by music which is made more loud or rapid as he approaches success, and slower as he recedes. --Tennyson.

Music box. See Musical box, under Musical.

Music hall, a place for public musical entertainments.

Music loft, a gallery for musicians, as in a dancing room or a church.

Music of the spheres, the harmony supposed to be produced by the accordant movement of the celestial spheres.

Music paper, paper ruled with the musical staff, for the use of composers and copyists.

Music pen, a pen for ruling at one time the five lines of the musical staff.

Music shell (Zo["o]l.), a handsomely colored marine gastropod shell (Voluta musica) found in the East Indies; -- so called because the color markings often resemble printed music. Sometimes applied to other shells similarly marked.

To face the music, to meet any disagreeable necessity without flinching. [Colloq. or Slang]

music

n. A common extracurricular interest of hackers (compare science-fiction fandom, oriental food; see also filk). Hackish folklore has long claimed that musical and programming abilities are closely related, and there has been at least one large-scale statistical study that supports this. Hackers, as a rule, like music and often develop musical appreciation in unusual and interesting directions. Folk music is very big in hacker circles; so is electronic music, and the sort of elaborate instrumental jazz/rock that used to be called `progressive' and isn't recorded much any more. The hacker's musical range tends to be wide; many can listen with equal appreciation to (say) Talking Heads, Yes, Gentle Giant, Pat Metheny, Scott Joplin, Tangerine Dream, Dream Theater, King Sunny Ade, The Pretenders, Screaming Trees, or the Brandenburg Concerti. It is also apparently true that hackerdom includes a much higher concentration of talented amateur musicians than one would expect from a similar-sized control group of mundane types.

music 

Music language, music
A series of languages for musical sound synthesis from Bell Labs, 1960's. Versions: Music I through Music V.
["An Acoustical Compiler for Music and Psychological Stimuli", M.V. Mathews, Bell Sys Tech J 40 (1961)].
[The Jargon File]
(1999-06-04)

Music

Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments (Gen. 4:21). The Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole history and literature afford abundant evidence of this. After the Deluge, the first mention of music is in the account of Laban's interview with Jacob (Gen. 31:27). After their triumphal passage of the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel sang their song of deliverance (Ex. 15). But the period of Samuel, David, and Solomon was the golden age of Hebrew music, as it was of Hebrew poetry. Music was now for the first time systematically cultivated. It was an essential part of training in the schools of the prophets (1 Sam. 10:5; 19:19-24; 2 Kings 3:15; 1 Chr. 25:6). There now arose also a class of professional singers (2 Sam. 19:35; Eccl. 2:8). The temple, however, was the great school of music. In the conducting of its services large bands of trained singers and players on instruments were constantly employed (2 Sam. 6:5; 1 Chr. 15; 16; 23;5; 25:1-6). In private life also music seems to have held an important place among the Hebrews (Eccl. 2:8; Amos 6:4-6; Isa. 5:11, 12; 24:8, 9; Ps. 137; Jer. 48:33; Luke 15:25).

music

In addition to the idiom beginning with music, also see face the music.