Welcome friends! :)

Since our big topic is music, I'd like to start this first post by asking you all a question. What is music?

I usually ask my students this question in the new beginner's piano class I teach at the Community Music Center. I usually begin with a story:

So, boys and girls, what if we were sitting here in class and we heard a strange sound outside the window. We look outside and there to our surprise, lodged in the big oak tree, is a small spaceship! And before our eyes, the door pops open and a little green (or purple, or use your imagination!) alien steps out.  He walks right through the window into our classroom!

He speaks! "Earthlings, I have been sent to study your planet. Tell me, what are you doing here?"

So we tell him we are in class to learn about music.

"Music!", he exclaims. "I have heard about this thing. What is music? Do you eat it?  Can I take it with me in my spaceship to study it back on my home planet?"

The students then attempt to describe music to the alien.  Someone usually blurts out, "You hear music!"

So the alien goes over to the piano and pounds on the keys, "Ah music!"

The kids then giggle and say "No! That's not music!"

So then I go to the piano and play a piece, like Fur Elise by Beethoven, or the Star Wars theme.

"Yes!"  The kids say, "That is music!"

So how is this different from the sound the alien was making?

We talk about patterns, and organizing the sound.  Usually someone talks about how music makes you feel happy or sad.

Or how music can tell a story.

So my question to you, dear readers is: What is music to you?