# Words to describe music ?



## malc (Apr 19, 2018)

I have played pieces where the composer tells the story behind a piece e.g " the quiet of the sylvan glade was rent asunder by a sudden storm etc.." Does the piece if heard without the story , sound the same?


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

No. I recall Henze's Symphony 7 was based on a poem, and there was a movement where the speaker was tortured or something. The audience didn't quite get that message and Henze went on a bit of a tirade criticizing the audience for not getting it. Cage said he would try to write something sad, but some people took the music as happy (or was it the other way around?)


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## adrien (Sep 12, 2016)

I think the piece still sounds the same but how we relate to it and how we listen to it changes. I think probably the overall result is that it feels different.

I think that's why (for example) America's Got Talent does so much back-story on contestants regardless of how much dignity it costs them (also because if more people vote, the more money they get).

But you could do the same with recorded music, and clearly the music does sound the same, it's an identical data stream.


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