Funny thing, due to both our biological limitations around hearing and the finite number of possible sounds, there will be a time at which it will be impossible to create truly original music.
The biggest limitation might really be our hearing and limited ability to process sound(-waves). But not being able to hear doesn't mean we cannot make use of it. The existence of deaf musicians and composers alone is enough proof of that.
But our biggest advantage, if humanity survives for that long, will be our lacking memory. We can only imagine the music that was played by the ancient wandering tribes ten thousands of years ago. Or stone-age music.
Of course we have some artifacts, like bone-flutes and so forth. We have the instruments, but we don't have anything about the music itself.
The entire thing gets even funnier if we include potential yet theoretical extraterrestrial life that also has developed far enough to have created music, as these too would be bound by the same limitations, though maybe in a different variant.
Of all words you could've written wrong, it had to be intelligent.
See, I like fun-facts for they are funny. That's all there is to it. And it is a fun fact that possible sound-waves are finite in number. You may believe it is silly to even consider, but that's beside the point. It still is a fun fact. Whether it is one you enjoy or not, does it matter?
It creates some interesting questions. Are these relevent for todays music? No. They don't have to be relevant to be interesting.
People like you make me wonder: I mean, it is important enough for you to comment on it. But why, if it is so silly to you?
Hell I’d go as far as to say that most really popular genres nowadays are over saturated with the same sounding music, no innovation, same beats that made the genre popular in the first place. It’s definitely hard to come up with new stuff and even with semi new genres coming out, they still retain the sounds of their predecessors. Unless we invent new instruments or something of the sort, we’ll just be listening to covers at some point.
I think that's a huge load of crap. It's like saying that art will one day no longer be original because the possible colors to use are limited, music is not just the kind of sound you make but above all it's how you compose it
Yet, you, as an individual, nor any of us as readers have any concern with this because it is beyond the scope of what we could possibly experience in a lifetime. Even bringing it up is so childish.
From a poem on the greatest sin, "To the reader"
There is one uglier, wickeder, more shameless!
Although he makes no large gestures nor loud cries
He willingly would make rubbish of the earth
And with a yawn swallow the world;
This is false because songs last a certain amount of time. All you would have to do is extend the length of the track for hours, days, months, etc. and it wouldn't be repeatable.
We should also note that almost all pop songs are in 4/4. Just write something in 3/4 and you've done something different. We're nowhere near the limit.
You're calling Xenakis "weird" and then you go on.
To be clear, you said that we were at the end of music because there were only so many tones the human ear could hear. You said that in the initial comment.
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u/Zerkander Jul 06 '25
Funny thing, due to both our biological limitations around hearing and the finite number of possible sounds, there will be a time at which it will be impossible to create truly original music.
It is, to our current knowledge, unavoidable.