Sound and Silence and More

Music isn't just sound and silence in time because sound isn't just sound and silence isn't just silence.  First, sound has a source.  The source might be animal, vegetable or mineral.  If the source is animal, it might be human or non-human.  Whether human or non-human, the source may have intention, which determines the kind and quality of the sound.  By the way, all sound and all silence fall within the scope of the broadest definition of music.  Some would argue otherwise.  Oh, well.  So, if we have a non-human sound, like say, a whale, then we also have intention.  The whale might be sending a signal to his mate across several miles of ocean.  In that case the sound will have a definite character, volume and flavor.  If for some reason, for instance, the whale is in distress, this would change the character, flavor and possibly the volume of the sound.  All of these factors become part of the sound itself.  Taken separately, as in, isolating the sound from the source and ignoring the possible motives for the sound, gives us a significantly less interesting piece of music, for one thing, but it also takes away a great deal of our ability to enjoy it.  Half the fun of a piece of music is knowing things about it.
For instance, I remember when I was about 7 years old and our teacher took us to a little patch of trees out beyond the school house.  There were many birds in the trees and they were singing noisily all around us.  Our teacher then pointed out that not all the sounds were the same.  She said that besides having different 'songs', the birds had different signals for different occasions.  One of the occasions, she said, was danger.  She then made a strange sound with her hand on her mouth and explained that when certain kinds of birds are in danger they make a sound something like that.  I was fascinated and after she showed us the secret to making the sound, we all began making the sounds of distressed birds.  It was great.  I thought I had been let in on a great thing and that I could now 'talk' to and understand birds.  Really, I had been let in on something even bigger than that.  I had been given my first lesson in talking to and understanding life.
Life is music is sound is silence is everything.  We cannot separate ourselves from it.  Music is everywhere.  Life is everywhere.  The key is to listen.  What I learned from the birds that day was that the music of the birds wasn't just singing, it was living.  Their 'music' changed when they were in trouble.  Everyone's music changes when he is in trouble or in love or happy or sad or anything.  Everything changes your music, drives your music and helps you create your music.  Every day each person is creating the music of his life with words, thoughts, intentions, actions, interactions and their opposites.  Nothing is outside of the realms of living music.  The great awakening comes when one realizes that the baton, so to speak is in his hand.  The music of life can be directed through the intention of a living soul.  So instead of being merely a singer in the symphony of life, one can become the conductor, composer and orchestrator.  One can determine the kind, quality and volume of the music he will produce when he realizes his potential for music, and life.  Life wasn't meant to be a series of victimizations but a growing field of beauty and happiness.  When one takes charge of his music it is as though he learned where the seed box was kept and was given an open field in which to plant whatever seeds he wanted, whether for beauty, nourishment or just for the fun of it.  When a field is allowed to grow by itself without cultivation, it becomes a dull and lifeless grassy place with plenty of noxious weeds.  When cultivated it can become a garden of Eden where there are all manner of fruits and flowers to enjoy.  Music; life; These are the fields.