When the content of a painting is said to be "musical", or the spatial experience of a building is said to have "rhythm"...when any of these terms are interchanged within these fields or any other, the underlying commonality is the perception of their relationships, their order, their harmony.

Harmony is the essence of music. Even if deliberately making noise with the intention of its being non-sensical, chaotic or unordered, this very act of expression is at the very least an admission the act itself has purpose and a means, and thus resides within a greater order. Likewise, discerning order even in seeming chaos or randomness is a finding of harmony.

However incomprehensibly complex the universe may seem at times, its machinations occur within the confines of a universal law, or harmony. Harmony is understanding, and music is the bond between incomprehension and understanding.

The Art of Music is a series of articles seeking to provide a broad understanding of the art of music, with additional articles to be added periodically.