When will music run short?

[jens]

Well, in the world during all times there have been probably made millions of different songs. What more time goes by, that more songs tend to recur and that less possibilities of making a different song stay.

Every year new different songs are made that we listen to on the radio etc. And I wonder, by when all the possibilities have been used and we won't hear any new songs?

P.S. The topic and question are so specific that I was struggling to find proper English to express it, so hopefully you understand, what I mean. :)

[Storm]

I don't think that will happen.....even though music is based on 7 notes of a scale there are just infinite combinations to create a new piece of music.

Of course some themes recur but then thats bound to happen but musicians will always try to churn out new stuff.

[millencolin]

never, music can never end as there are so many styles and forms, its endless!!

[CarlMetro]

I don't think it will ever happen but it does sometimes seem like it already has with all the re-hashes and remixes of old tracks. This is not down to music running out though, more about people wanting to make a fast buck for little or no effort.

[jens]

Actually I thought that the topic can be expanded and it can be made more philosophical. Nothing is infinite. When I hear a new song, then I think that how they still have got new ideas for making a new (good!!) song. :p : (it's a lot easier to make "bad" new song :p :) . In future the solution might be new instruments.

But about other:
When the computers won't get any faster?
When will the population of the world start decreasing?
When an F1 car can't get any better? (in case rules are not changed) :D

Another stuff is about film names. Films are made all the time and they must run out of good names some time...
And the ideas for films and books itself - well, the logic might be that as time goes by, it gives us new ideas, so there is not gonna be any limit. But in name's case there is a limit unless new language will be developed.

But about several subject fields I still think that somewhere must be limits and time is not gonna widen them. Nothing can be done forever. So much have been discussed about the limits of human capability in sports. What about other subject fields?

The limit, where forces of nature do not allow to develop any further - the point, where absolutely all the resources and possibilites nature has given us, have been used. It won't probably happen in this century, but... :p :

[EuroTroll]

I think humans will never reach the limit in any pursuit because we tend get bored and invent something new to do before we've exhausted all the possibilities in the old. ;) Which is as it should be.

Also, it's worth remembering a quote of Senna's: "On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit and you go for this limit and you touch this limit and you think, "Okay, this is the limit." As soon as you touch this limit, something happens and you realise that you can suddenly go a little bit further."

Finally, I don't believe there are any absolute limits for such wonderfully complex beings as us - I think there are only points where going forward, getting better is overwhelmingly difficult.

[slinkster]

haha I've wondered this myself too from time to time amongst the other random stuff that flitters through my head. But then, music is an artform, and I can't imagine art having a limit ... it's only limited as much as our minds are, so as long as people keep pushing the boundaries it should never run out.

The human species will probably die out long before we see the stretches of how far we can take many things... we're too preoccupied with other stuff.

[Drew]

Never.

As each day goes on in the world, new words are created, new topics are created, new people are born, new products are invented and so on, so I think it's never ending...

[Donney]

To really know that we've reached the limit in terms of songs, books or films somebody, somewhere should be taking account of all the names previously used. I don't think that is happening therefore I think we will never know if something has been used before.

[Sleeper]

Never

Those that create music for artistic sakes inparticular are going to look for new ways to do something. As has been said, there 7 notes to a scale but their are dozens of scales (maybe more) and literally thousends of chords and chord combinations and progressions. Add to that big jumps in music normally come with new technology or some bright spark coming up with a new way of playing an instrument. For those visonaries that really are trying to do something artistic that, hopefully, doesnt sound like any other band then you get endless possibilities.

The same could apply to any form of artistic entertainment like gaming (to a degree) and certainly films.

[Dave B]

Think of it another way: there are only 26 letters in the cyrillic alphabet, yet thousands of new books get written every year.

We're not in danger of running out of music anytime soon. When we eventually do, we must remember to thank Abba. :p

[Sleeper]

Thank Abba? Not bloody likely!

Correct me if I'm wrong but isnt the cyrillic alphabet used in easten European countries like Poland and Russia? Not that it matters, I get your point.

[EuroTroll]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isnt the cyrillic alphabet used in easten European countries like Poland and Russia? Not that it matters, I get your point.

No, not Poland.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/Cyrillic_alphabet_distribution_map.png

Countries that use the Cyrillic alphabet as the official main script are in dark green. Countries that use the Cyrillic alongside the Latin script are in light green. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Edit: I suppose the Moldavian territory of Transnistria should be in some sort of green as well. :dozey:

[Dave B]

Yup, I got it wrong. I meant the "normal" western A-Z alphabet but forgot the name. And now I'm drunk :p

[schmenke]

You mean dяцnk?

[Rollo]

Plagerism occurs all the time within the world of music. One notable example is Dani California by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. If someone can convince me that it's not a direct rip off of Last Dance With Mary Jane by Tom Petty.

You could also in theory accuse The Offspring of stealing the music wholesale for Why Don't You Get a Job? from Ob La Di - Ob La Da by the Beatles.

But as the band Tripod once showed, the same chord structure can be applied to Wonderwall, D'Ya Know What I Mean, Champagne Supernova, Don't Look Back in Anger and Whatever by Oasis. But a lot of that was applying the same principles as the Radio 4 game ISIHAC with One Song to the Tune of Another

[EuroTroll]

You mean dяцnk?

That would be друнк. ;)

[EuroTroll]

Plagerism occurs all the time within the world of music.

Reminds me of the Pachelbel Rant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM). :)

[Drew]

You mean the latin script, Dave?

Even then, it's English that has 26 characters, I think.

[bowler]

I don't know when the music will run out, but I know that we are on the repeats now.

[Storm]

I thought its called the Roman script :erm:

[EuroTroll]

I thought its called the Roman script :erm:

It is, although in Europe it's more commonly called the Latin script.

(Also, in Soviet times it used to be somewhat common for Russians to accuse the Balts of writing with "German letters" - a sure sign of rampant Fascism. :) )

[Ian McC]

With films they seem to be struggling for ideas, we have remakes of old (and not so old) films, remakes of foreign films, TV shows and comics, not to mention sequels.

[fandango]

Didn't we have this thread already? :D

[Eki]

Music won't run short until the fat lady sings.

[jso1985]

The combinations of chords are as big as letter combinations IMO, so music will never run out short or it will be in like 10000 years.
But names for bans seems to be running short now... "Panic at the disco" or "You're not gonna like it" are just ridicoulous names

[SOD]

There's plenty of music CD's that you can borrow from your local library free of charge

[cosmicpanda]

I don't think that will happen.....even though music is based on 7 notes of a scale there are just infinite combinations to create a new piece of music.

Of course some themes recur but then thats bound to happen but musicians will always try to churn out new stuff.

There are 12 possible notes to choose from in the scale, 13 if you include the octave. Hop on a piano and count them. And that's only the classical scale... I recall reading about a musician in Turkey who uses quarter tones, which sound interesting.

I also seem to remember from a textbook that hundreds of years ago, possibly about the 1500s, they used a completely different system of music. Then the Baroque composers sprung up and developed a revolutionary system, and then after them, the classical composers and then the romantic composers all changed the way music was seen. More recently we've had jazz and rock and roll. My point is, there will always be some new genius who will invent a new genre of music.

[SOD]

read the Thesaurus of Scales or whatever it is by Nicolas Slonimsky.