> So I let that quote "Music is the appreciation of sound" percolate in the
back 
> of my brain for a while.  It sounded so nice, so pretty, so accepting. 
But 
> eventually it bothered me for this reason:  it confuses the object
"music" with 
> the implicit subjects that "receive" the music.  I appreciate the sound
of waves 
> drawing up and sliding down the shingle.  I appreciate the sound of a
well-tuned 
> motorcycle engine purring like a big fat cat.  But there is no music in
"the 
> appreciation" of these sounds.  Music is the "stuff", not the
"appreciation of 
> stuff".  And it's artificial, human-concocted stuff.  It's a bag of
tricks, not 
> the appreciation of a bag of tricks.  It's very hard to talk about music
without 
> giving most people the old feeling that "we murder to dissect".  Elvis
Costello 
> was quoted saying something like "talking about music is like dancing
about 
> architecture".  It can be done, but most people don't  have the patience
to 
> learn the technical lingo.  Why should they?  Let the academics spin the 
> elegantly structured ideas and analyses.  I just want to write some
decent music 
> - and I think you know what I mean.


Music is the appreciation of structures in aesthetic psychofictional space.


That'll do it. This modification of the quote encompasses everything. Give
it a try..you'll see.


David.