It is human nature to alter one’s environment. People adjust and modify their environment to create an attractive and comfortable living space or work space. They inevitably furnish and decorate a space to their liking. Perhaps they even hire an architect to help create an exemplary space from scratch. An architect modifies the built environment to accommodate a client’s needs for utility, function, and aesthetics.
A building is a fixed size, stationary, and can be revisited time and time again over many years. However, there are variations: Architecture can appear different at different times of the day or year due to changing light and climate conditions, variable architectural elements of the building (such as shading devices), and even changes to the environment around it.
A musician also modifies the environment: Playing an instrument generates sound waves with the intention of influencing the audience in a particular way. People go to performances to find something special to enrich their lives. They seek a calming, exciting, pleasing, or disrupting experience that is not part of their normal daily existence. They have their environment altered.
A live music performance is unique and can never be duplicated. The notes being played at subsequent performances might be the same, but the performance will always be slightly different. There are variables in the performer’s physical condition, emotions, the tempo of the piece, air temperature and humidity etc. The nature of this experience is primarily why people make the effort to attend live music events.
