Consider your favourite artist or song. What comes to mind? It’s likely a combination of an image of them, a tune and an experience you had that had elements of both of these. It’s interesting right? To think about the link between music and it’s visual or experiential context.

Is music just sound then? Maybe it’s switching on music at home to welcome the day. This is music that has context in sunshine, warmth and a new day. Maybe it’s playing music in a concert band, this is music in the context of friendship and connection or it’s going to a gig which is of course music experienced live and real.

What about the artist? It seems to matter to us who wrote or who is performing the song. It seems to matter what they look like, what they say, what they believe and how they act too. All completely separate from the music itself. Or is it really separate? It’s hard to think of an example where they are not connected, so maybe music really is sound and context combined.