Traditionally, examines the aesthetics of music mathematical and cosmological dimensions of the rhythmic and harmonic organization. In the eighteenth century , the focus shifted to music listening experience and therefore to questions about their beauty and human pleasure ( plaisir and jouissance ) of the music. The origin of this philosophical shift is sometimes attributed in the 18th Century Baumgarten , followed by edge . Through his writings , " aesthetics " was the old term , ie , sensory perception , its current connotation. In recent decades, philosophers have more problems in addition to emphasize the beauty and enjoyment . For example, the ability of music to express feelings is a key issue.

In the 20th Century made ​​important contributions by Peter Kivy , Jerrold Levinson , Stephen Davies and Roger Scruton . However, many musicians, music critics and other non- philosophers have contributed to the aesthetics of music. In the 19th Century there was an important debate between Eduard Hanslick , music critic and musicologist and composer Richard Wagner. Harry Partch and other musicologists , as Kyle Gann , have studied and tried to popularize microtonal music and the use of alternative scales. Many modern composers like Lamonte Young, Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca paid much attention on a scale called just intonation.

It is often thought that the music has the ability to affect our emotions , intellect and psychology, but can ease our loneliness or incite the passions . The philosopher Plato in the Republic suggests that music has a direct effect on the soul . Therefore suggests that the music is ideal regimen should be closely regulated by the state. (Book VII)

There is a strong trend in the aesthetics of music to the paramount importance of the compositional structure , emphasize , however, other issues related to the aesthetics of music lyrics , harmony , hypnosis, emotional, temporal dynamics , resonance, joy and color (see also musical development ) .

The music that composers make can be heard through several media , is the traditional way to hear it live , in the presence of the musician ( or as one of the musicians ) , in a room outdoors or indoors , like an amphitheater concert hall , cabaret and theater room . Live music can also be transmitted via the radio, television or the Internet. Some musical styles focus on producing a solid performance for a while other sounds that were never played concentrate "live. " On the production of a recording that mixes together recording, even essentially live styles , often uses the ability to edit and splice to produce recordings considered better than the actual performance .

How to Speak pictures were taken in 20 Century , with their recorded music, a growing number of Movie House Orchestra musicians out of work. During the 1920s musical performances by orchestras , pianists , and theater organists were initially guided Theatre usual. With the advent of the talkies outstanding performances were largely eliminated. The American Federation of Musicians (AFM ) took newspaper advertisements protesting the replacement of live musicians with mechanical playing devices. An ad that appeared in the Pittsburgh Press in 1929 a picture of a "can not produce Canned Music / Big Noise Brand / Guaranteed reaction Whatever intellectual or emotional " with