Its impossible to describe, but its something incredibly complex and reveals interesting things about the functioning of the mind. When we hear a melody that we like, we have to be able to hear each note in the context of the memory of previous notes, its evidence for the forwards flow of time! Its the sound generated by air vibrations detected by the thin membrane of our ear drum and 'amplified' and processed by the squashy brain and transformed into
Eye of the Tiger
For me personally, music is a defining aspect of my 'self'. I listen pretty broadly, from various electronic styles to metal, post-rock, 60's rock, ambient, etc and have often found that my musical tastes give my sense of self solidity or something. For example, I love metal and while I don't dress like a metalhead besides band shirts, I really consider that to be something integral to me; it gives me so much pleasure on both a mental and deeper emotional level. When I feel like shit, I can cheer myself up by hunting down some obscure and cool tune or maybe beginning to explore the discograpy of a heretofore unheard band, etc. The nerd who likes alphabetising things and headbanging can do both
I create a lot of music too, mainly ambient and IDM sorta stuff which again is incredibly fulfilling. When I am in the middle of making some kinda complex glitchy break or unusual melody I totally focus and filter out the entire world, in a meditative state of mindfullness. An almost spiritual feeling- and I think music talks to the place in the brain that also generates some spiritual fervour. It just bypasses the restless mind and talks to the subconcious. There are songs that I was listening to during hard times that are almost impossible for me to even sing in the shower, let alone listen to. One thing I have always wanted to do in creating music is finding such a haunting melody, something too fragile and heart-breakingly beautiful that it can't actually be heard.
What is music to you nutty?