What is music?

Music is sound that has been organized by using rhythm, melody or harmony. If someone bangs saucepans while cooking, it makes noise. If a person bangs saucepans or pots in a rhythmic way, they are making a simple type of music.
Blues music is music that is played by singing, using the harmonica, or the acoustic guitar. Jazz musicians use instruments such as the trumpet and saxophone (formerly clarinet).
Music started many thousands of years ago. When early people first banged pieces of wood together and enjoyed the sound, they were discovering music. Early people also discovered that when they cut off the horns of animals they had killed and blew through them, they could make interesting sounds. People also blew into conch shells and made sounds that they liked. They probably started to sing or shout in celebration.
There are four things which music has most of the time:

• Music often has pitch. This means high and low notes. Tunes are made of notes that go up or down or stay on the same pitch.
• Music often has rhythm. Rhythm is the length of each note. Every tune has a rhythm that can be tapped. Music usually has a regular beat.
• Music often has dynamics. This means whether it is quiet or loud or somewhere in between.
• Music often has timbre. This is a French word (pronounced the French way: "TAM-br"). The "timbre" of a sound is the way that a sound is interesting. The sort of sound might be harsh, gentle, dry, warm, or something else. Timbre is what makes a clarinet sound different from an oboe, and what makes one person's voice sound different from another person.