“The Analytical Engine might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine… Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.” ShouldMightActionFoundSoundNumbersPiecesObjectsExpressionDegreesRelationHarmonyFundamentalsMusicalInstanceOperationsAbstractComplexityMutualEnginesMechanismCompositionAdaptationSusceptibleSupposingMutual FundMusical Composition Author:Ada Lovelace
“Out of doing all that experimentation with sound I decided I wanted to do it with live musicians. To take repetition, take music fragments and make it live. Musicians would be able to play it and create this kind of abstract fabric of sound.” KindPlayWould BeAbleWantedSoundMusicianDecidedAbstractFabricRepetitionFragmentsExperimentation Author:Terry Riley
“Music is the most abstract of the arts and it expresses the sound of the universe itself. These are the real rhythms that stimulate the artist's mind and guide his hand.” MindArtRealHandsArtistUniverseSoundMusicMusic IsGuidesRhythmAbstract Author:Robert Genn
“I imagine that as contemporary music goes on changing in the way that I'm changing it what will be done is to more and more completely liberate sounds from abstract ideas about them and more and more exactly to let them be physically uniquely themselves. This means for me: knowing more and more not what I think a sound is but what it actually is in all of its acoustical details and then letting this sound exist, itself, changing in a changing sonorous environment.” ThinkingWayMeanIdeasDoneSoundKnowingEnvironmentImagineGoes OnDetailsContemporaryAbstractImagine ThatContemporary MusicKnowing More Author:John Cage
“Freedom is not an empty sound; it is not an abstract idea; it is not a thing that nobody can feel. It means, - and it means nothing else, - the full and quiet enjoyment of your own property. If you have not this, if this be not well secured to you, you may call yourself what you will, but you are a slave.” IfsFeelsWellsMayMeanIdeasWisdomPoliticsSoundEconomyQuietEmptyPropertySlaveEnjoymentAbstractLiberalismSecured Book:A History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland Source: A History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland
“I can picture the color of the song, or the shape of it, or who it is that I'm trying to appeal to, in the song, and what I'm trying to, almost, reinforce my feelings for. And I know that sounds sort of vague and abstract, but I've got a handle on it when I'm doing it.” KnowsTryingI CanFeelingsSongSoundColorShapesHandleAppealsAbstractVague Author:Bob Dylan