Music is a form of art and cultural activity that uses sound and silence as its medium. The term has its origin in the Greek language, mousike, which translates to art of the Muses. According to the mythology of the Greeks, muses were nine goddesses who inspired the arts, science, and literature. They were sources of knowledge that is embodied within the cultural myths, song-lyrics, and poetry in Ancient Greek. In order to understand more about music Oakland is a great place to check out.

The reasons why people engage in this art differ. Some of the reasons are to derive aesthetic pleasure and ceremonial purposes. Increasingly, musicians today produce the art for public consumption in the marketplace. People played music on home pianos during Romantic and Classical eras when sound recording capabilities had not been invented yet. Enjoyment of the art was made much easier when technology for recording sound was invented.

Technology in this field has seen significant growth and expansion. In the 1980s, the home tape recorder was invented, followed by digital music in the 1990s. The latter allowed people to carry MP3 players and portable cassette players so that they could listen to a playlist of their favorite pieces. People make mix tapes of favorite songs to serve as prescription for parties, self-portrait, and gifts for other people.

Many people love music, with some producing it for self-pleasure while doing other activities for income, especially amateur musicians. Various institutions employ professional musicians to perform in various events. Some of the institutions that employ professional musicians are churches and synagogues, film production or broadcasting companies, symphony orchestras, music schools, and the armed forces. One major application in the armed forces is marching bands.

It is also common for professional musicians to work as session musicians or freelancers, where they seek contracts and engage in various settings. Amateur musicians usually receive lessons from professional one in many places. Sometimes, advanced amateur musicians perform together with professionals in various events such as community orchestras and concert bands. Musicians may perform in live concerts before an audience or they may perform behind the scenes in a studio.

Many aspects of music produced in studios and that performed live in concerts have many differences. Studio-produced products are distributed to buyers for money. The same is not correct for concert performance in most cases. However, recordings of concert performance which are made legally are high valued by fans. Such recordings are distributed through the internet and other media.

Music is composed of several elements, commonly, pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and sonic qualities of texture and timbre. The element of pitch governs harmony and melody while rhythm has associated concepts, which include articulation, meter, and tempo. The emphasis and de-emphasis of these elements differ with the style and type of music.

It takes various vocal techniques and musical instruments to perform this art. The vocal techniques used range from instrument-free singing to rapping. The various styles and other aspects of this field have evolved a lot since its discovery. New styles come up regularly as old ones lose popularity in the mainstream. The industry is actively expanding and reaching new corners of the world and accompanying technology gets better.