During the weekend, I was thinking about why I don't like music from Modeski, Martin, and Wood or Trey Anastasio, despite the fact that they're clearly excellent musicians. Certain people clearly enjoy it and can groove to it, but it just doesn't resonate with me. While driving to work on Monday morning, it hit me. Their music has no melody. From wordiq:
"In music, a melody is a series of linear events or a succession, not a simultaneity as in a chord. However, this succession must contain change of some kind and be perceived as a single entity (possibly gestalt) to be called a melody. Most specifically this includes patterns of changing pitches and durations, while most generally it includes any interacting patterns of changing events or quality."
I was discussing this with someone that was insisting that a melody existed or that it was very similar to jazz, which is very improvisational. However, I just can't agree with that. I listen to plenty of Miles Davis and Coltrane (among others), and I can definitely pick out what I consider a melody. I guess a way to simplify this, is to state that a melody is something that I can hum. The aforementioned humming should then be potentially identifiable as the song itself (assuming a certain proficiency in humming). With MMW and Trey A, I don't believe that is the case. Note that this says nothing about the presence or lack of rhythm or harmony.
Clearly this is opinion on a topic with lots of gray area. I'm also not making any qualitative statements about the music. I can certainly hum a Celine Dion song, but that doesn't mean I like it. However, I'm happy that I can finally put into words what I've felt about music for a long time.
I think it's for this same reason that I can generally enjoy percussion, Blue Man Group, jazz, techno, and industrial. It also explains why I can't really get into acid or trance. It's probably time that I read some books or take some music theory classes to solidify my terminology. I'd probably enjoy the music that much more.
P.S. I discussed this same topic with a co-worker that is both a musician and generally music-knowledgable. It's interesting to note that he had the same assessment of MMW and Trey A. I think his words were something like, "I can't get into it. They just sorta noodle." He didn't really agree or disagree with me about the melody thing, but I think we both knew what the other person was trying to convey.
