View source for MetaSB1. Can Martians (intelligent aliens ignorant of Earth's musical practices) play jazz?

===<span style="color:fuchsia">'''Reasons why Martians cannot play jazz'''</span>===

<span style="color:blue">As we saw above, there are reasons to believe that aliens, such as Martians, who are self-conscious persons with advanced technology capable of manufacturing musical instruments and with sophisticated knowledge of the physics of sound and who also have the sensory equivalent of hearing could in principle develop music 🎶.</span>

<span style="color:blue">For Martians to be able to play jazz requires that we know what features make music qualify as jazz.  This is a tall order, but see PoJ.fm's </span> [[Ontdef3. What is the definition of jazz? | Ontdef3. What is the definition of jazz?]].

----

====<span style="color:fuchsia">At a minimum, what would a Martian musician need to know to play jazz?</span>====

* <span style="color:brown">How to synthesize the two musical systems Earthlings call the [http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatonic_scale diatonic] musical scale from Europe with the [http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentatonic_scale pentatonic] blues musical scale.  </span> <br/> <br/> 

<span style="color:blue">Were the two musical scales of the diatonic and the pentatonic incorporated into the hybridized musical system used by Earth's jazz musicians, the Martian musicians still would not be playing straightahead jazz since they also need to be syncopating the rhythm.  Suppose a Martian jazz musician is incorporating the diatonic and pentatonic musical scales, syncopating the rhythm and occasionally improvising using all of these components.  Now would this qualify as performing jazz music?  Does the past historical developments of Earth's jazz need to be included in future developments of jazz? </span> 

<span style="color:blue">Switch to a somewhat different topic.  Could Martian musicians ever be playing free jazz?  Here the possibilities seem more hopeful.  The reason to believe it may be more likely is due to the fact that the musical structures in free jazz are not previously established as systems of music making that conforms to relatively fixed musical rules and practices.  </span> 

<span style="color:blue">Suppose that a non-musician sits down at a piano keyboard and just flails away on the keys.  Should anyone judge that what this person is doing is playing free jazz?  Suppose in a different scenario a non-jazz musician who knows how to play the piano, but has never played jazz, could this person flail away on a keyboard?  Yes, he or she could so flail.  Would he or she ever be playing free jazz?  It just doesn't seem very likely.  Why cannot these people ever be playing free jazz?  One relevant consideration is that they cannot play jazz.  If they cannot play jazz, then why think they are ever playing a form of jazz that constitutes free jazz.  Free jazz is not just music played with no rules.  A five year old banging on a toy piano  may not  be  following any musical rules, but it doesn't follow merely from this that she is playing free jazz.  Why not?  What is required to play free jazz? </span> 

<span style="color:blue">One could set down some requirements for performing free jazz.  </span> 

* <span style="color:brown">To play free jazz, one must be a jazz musician. </span> 
* <span style="color:brown">Playing free jazz requires musicians to competently play their musical instruments. </span> 
* <span style="color:brown">Playing free jazz requires musicians to generate sonic structures of interest. </span> <br/> <br/> 

<span style="color:blue">If these three requirements are adopted, then they can be used to explain why a five year old banging on a toy piano is not playing free jazz.  The child, let us assume, is neither a jazz musician, nor competently capable of playing the piano, and lastly, is not producing any sonic structures of musical interest.  Similarly for the non-jazz musician, although here the person could be competent to play the relevant instrument. </span> 

<span style="color:blue">If the first requirement of needing to be a jazz musician is not met by any Martians, then they cannot ever be playing free jazz either.  Hence, we have come full circle back to the original question of whether it is possible for Martians to play jazz. </span> 





----