Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprising, defining exactly what music is can be complicated, and it is clear that what might be music to some people and cultures is just a lot of noise to others. In ancient times Greek philosophers believed that music is always ordered and also pleasant to listen to. Phrases like ‘harmony of the spheres’ and ‘music to my ears’ implies such. However modern composers, such as John Cage and others seem to disagree.  John Cage is quoted as saying, “There is no noise, only sound.”

The famed musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez expressed this point of view:  “The border between music and noise is always culturally defined—which implies that, even within a single society, this border does not always pass through the same place; in short, there is rarely a consensus … By all accounts there is no single and intercultural universal concept defining what music might be.”