I grew up playing classical piano, and my father who plays the guitar and is a math enthusiast, always told me that music theory is just pure math. My experience in this class is further proving his point. In this week’s reading, Spiegel breaks down the concept of information theory and how it could be used in music. I particularly found her explanation of choosing sounds “vulnerable to corruption” to be informative, as I usually just experiment with random values and introduce noise, but now I can do it with a bit more intentionality.

Speigel also brings up the idea of whether there is such a process as composition, and I’ve been thinking about this for a while! After transitioning from classical music to different genres, I joined a band, and I found the times when we were brainstorming lyrics to write or melodies really challenging because nothing ever felt original. Whatever lyric I wrote, I can pinpoint a source song or artist that it was directly influenced by or borrowed from. We always hear from older generations that there is no longer music like what they had during their times. I still wonder: are we past the point of originality and novelty in music, and if we’re not, how can we ensure that what we’re making is a new composition? Or actually, does that even matter if the music speaks to someone and is enjoyed by audiences?