The reading was a bit complicated, but I tried to understand by thinking of some examples I can relate to. To me, a person who’s not knowledgeable about but likes music, music seems like a combination between repetition and variation- balancing the two. There has to be some sort of repetition to create the underlying beat, something that will work nicely as a plate. On top of this plate has to be variations- something that can stand out on top of somewhat plain plate. When listening to music, like the reading mentioned, if there’s a lack of variation, it feels like the music has no build-up. By this, I mean that the purpose of the music gets very blurred. Music also has something it’s trying to deliver- a sad emotion, some hype, or maybe even calmness. These purpose cannot be fulfilled if the listener only gets a repetition of the same beat and melody, as it gives them no room to build up these emotions.

Because such analysis of mine, if we can call it that, is purely based on my feelings, I didn’t think about how musicians can overcome this: I could only criticize that this music is ‘boring.’ It was interesting to learn the basic approaches I can take, as a musician now, to tackle such stillness.