When the ITV news flash sign came on the TV screen everyone looked up. When the flash sign was immediately followed by a still of Elvis Presley, a quiet voice breathed, “Oh, my God.”

“Reports are coming in that Elvis Presley, the rock and roll singer, died this evening at his home in Memphis, Tennessee.”

We all looked at each other in disbelief.

“Elvis is dead!”

It didn’t seem quite credible. And yet it wasn’t the kind of shock that followed the news of J.F.K. being cut down. There had been so much speculation about Presley’s mental and physical health that his death was unpleasantly predictable.

It was almost impossible to know what to think. My first impulse was to pick up the phone and call a couple of people. I tried two numbers, but they were both busy. Obviously other people had reacted the same way. It was the kind of news that demanded to be passed on. Elvis had always been there. For more than two decades he’d maintained a unique position in too many people’s lives. Despite all the depressing rumours it scarcely seemed possible that he’d gone, that Elvis Presley was dead at 42.

I guess the only word I can use is numb. Numb, and just very slightly embarrassed at the way I was reacting. It wasn’t the ordinary kind of grief that you feel for a personal friend. There was no voice telling me that I’d never see Elvis Presley again. Jesus Christ, I’d never seen him, ever. I didn’t even regret that I’d never get the chance to see him. The Elvis Presley I’d have given my right arm to watch was the wild hoodlum in the gold jacket who vanished into the US Army and never returned. I’d mourned his passing many years ago.

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General definitions of music include common elements such as pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics (loudness and softness), and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture (which are sometimes termed the “color” of a musical sound).

Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music is performed with a vast range of instruments and vocal techniques ranging from singing to rapping; there are solely instrumental pieces, solely vocal pieces (such as songs without instrumental accompaniment) and pieces that combine singing and instruments. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike; “art of the Muses”).

Ancient Greek and Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as “the harmony of the spheres” and “it is music to my ears” point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, “There is no noise, only sound.”

The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music vary according to culture and social context. Indeed, throughout history, some new forms or styles of music have been criticized as “not being music”, including Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge string quartet in 1825, early jazz in the beginning of the 1900s and hardcore punk in the 1980s.

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