Music is a form in which the medium is sound organized in time. Pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timber and texture are the common elements of music. Music name was derived from the greek word Muses.

Music was defined as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies by the Greek philosophers and ancient Indians. Death metal and grindcore are existence of some modern-day music genres indicate that the harshest sounds can be considered music if the listener is so inclined.

A composer of 20th century, John Cage said that music must consist of pleasant, discernible melodies otherwise any sounds we can hear will be called music. He also said that if it will be like this then there will be no noise only sound. According to musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez, "the border between music and noise is always culturally defined—which implies that, even within a single society, this border does not always pass through the same place; in short, there is rarely a consensus.… By all accounts there is no single and intercultural universal concept defining what music might be, except that it is 'sound through time'."

The development of music in humans must have taken place due to hearing of natural sounds such as birdsong and sounds of other animals which was used to communicate among animals. There are a range of Paleolithic sites from where a series of yielded bones in which lateral holes have been pierced were found. These yielded bones are identified as flutes. It was blown at one end like the Japanese shakuhachi. The oldest written musical expressions were 4000 year old cuneiform from Ur. Instruments. These musical records were from Samaveda of India. A seven-holed flute and various types of stringed instruments were also recovered from the Indus Valley Civilizations archaeological sites. India has the oldest music traditions in the world. The oldest India classical music was ‘marga’ which was found in the ancient scriptures of the Hindu tradition, the Vedas. Similarly the traditional art or court of music of China is three thousand years old history. The Ancient Greece person produces mixed-gender choruses for entertainment, celebration and spiritual ceremonies. The musicians and singers had played an important role in ancient Greek theater.

The physical expression of music is called performance. A musical work is performed once its structure and instrumentation are satisfactory to its creators or performers. But as it gets performed, it can evolve and change. The performance can be rehearsed or improvised. Here improvisation means a musical idea created on the spot, with no predetermine idea or expression. And rehearsal here means vigorous repetition of an idea until it has achieved quality. There are many cultures which have strong traditions of solo and performance such as Indian Classical Music and Western Art music tradition. There are some cultures that have traditions of group performance such as Bali.

Another form of music is chamber music. A chamber music is music for small ensemble with only a few each type of instrument. It is often found as more intimate than symphonic music.