wow,, ill get back to ya ,,,what a can of worms jim.
one thing we should all agree on is that.
all music envokes emotion,,,i challenge anyone to dispute that
personalitie and character are two diff things we should agree on that.
can u tell something about the writer? i think so,,, i can tell what they r trying to accomplish
ill put some good thought into this and give u my perspective
buzz contemplates
lol

Unless you're a hard core Humian empiricist then:

Music = Tonality + Identity

Otherwise, what differentiates two people trained in the same school of music? What keeps them from writing the same thing? Therefore I'll extend this to say that if you remove the tone from your own music you should find a peice of your identity.

think about your favorite artist what do you get from their songs
When you here Stevie Nicks you know what she's thinking, gets her ideas out.
I'm not sure if you get the whole thing, more like glimpses of thoughts, and feelings.
Sometimes when I'm pissed I don't always write a angry tune.
Sometimes I'll write, or play the opposite, to get me out of that mood.
It's probably diffrent for everyone. thus so many diffrent styles and styles within styles.

Most complex subject,..but not very interesting.
Its better to just make music!
Otherwise:do a study philosophy.

How can you say it's not interesting!!!
Yes, I would love to just make the music, but I'm sitting in my office at work so it's not really possible - I'm also not able to listen and review some of the music that's been posted as the soundcard is disabled in my work pc -
............................but I can keep content over breakfast by reading these posts (while currently listening to Pink Floyd's Shine on You Crazy Diamond on my MP3 player!).

So, I find it interesting that everyone has their own ideas that seem to center around a common theme - the music we write reflects our character to a point; or perhaps it's more that it reflects our current state of mind.
I liked the idea that the music we write is an expression of ourselves, whereas the music we listen to is our escape.  Something that can tie up the observation made that we (well, many of us) write different music from that we listen to.

Going back to JBP's original questions though:

1) I rarely think that musicians show their entire selves when they create a piece of music.  I think that it's just a picture of their emotion at the time of writing.  For myself, I can start to write a piece of music one day, and then go to complete it on a different day, and I end up re-recording the lot, as it no longer sounds the way I want (or feel).

2) The music I write is a mixture of my character and feelings; it's mostly the way I feel though.  I think the lyrics are a really important aspect of showing character and feeling too (if you write them, but that's another matter I think)

3) I don't think I could guess someone's character from the music they write (as I said above, I think we all hold part of ourselves back) but I may be able to guess how someone was feeling at the time.  There is bound to be a glimpse of their character in there, but that's all.  My opinion would be based on how the music makes me feel. 

4) As previously said, I think partially we listen to music that suits our current emotional state - we write what we can, which may emulate in some way the stuff we listen to, but it's more a bearing of the sole!

Wow, this is either a great response to Jim's original post - or it a load of complete b*ll*cks.

Whatever, I find it an interesting thread.

(BTW Since I started writing I've listened to some Dream Theater, Peter Gabriel, The Calling, and one song by EducatedGuess! All of which I really enjoyed )

No of fence,..just make music that's all i am trying to say.
If you find its interesting,.. yo respect.
But in the cont ex of making music i think it isn't interesting at all.
So that's all,..respect.
       PS: I must admit it says something about my personality that i am saying this

I agree.

And I think that it is only possible to recognize aspects of a person's character by listening to an amount of music that was written over a long period of time... say, a few albums worth, because like Jim said, most songs (I'm guessing) are just a reflection of their emotion at the time of writing. I know this is true to how I write music...

However, if you listen to enough of someone's music, you can recognize certain elements, certain tones that repeat themselves... certain patterns that could possibly relate to the similarity between music and personality.

But, then again, I think it's nearly impossible for the listener to determine which of these patterns actually relates to a person's personality, and which is just a reflection of the writer's emotion around the time of writing.

i think that music is a musician's way of letting someone know how they really feel without having to actually say it straight out.  look at all the teen boy bands; they get to say how they really feel without having to admit it-"it was just a good sound" or "yeah, it's just what people want to hear".  they can say how scared they are of love, and get paid or it instead of beat up.

music that is written by the artist(in other words, not pop) let's the artist tell someone how (s)he feels, so it does reveal something of the artist.

"Music is the shorthand of emotion.  Emotions which let themselves be described in words with such difficulty, are directly conveyed to man in music, and in that is its power and significance. "   - Leo Tolstoy   

Couldn't find the words myself, luckily smarter men;before me,have.

Still doesn't answer the question (if it is answerable ) but maybe music is a glimpse of emotions,feelings, ideas, concepts, hopes,dreams,nightmares, everything that ecompesses the human. given out in the expression of sounds.

                                                                  Greg Harris
                                                                   Toasted Goat

maybe some of our personality is reflecting in our music, but not at all, some people follow tendences of the moment, but I think all of us looking for something new, we trying to make difference, and that not mean change our personality, all is different in every song, the same is who is making the song.


      Creo que la personalidad se refleja un poco en la musica que hacemos, pero creo que todos estamos buscando una identidad dentro de ella,siempre buscamos algo para hacer cosas distintas, lo cual no implica que en cada cancion tu cambies, o que cada cancion sea lo mismo, lo que alomejor es mas reflejable en la musica son los sentimientos.
      La personalidad se esconde bajo la sabana de los sentidos que van tejiendo con majestuosidad cada nota de una buena cancion....

I believe that the music I listen to reflects my conscious state of mind or my mood at that time.On the other hand I  believe that the music I create reflects my deep subconscious state of mind.

A piece of music, I believe, is based around a person at a set frame of mind in time, so therefore a song is a historical documentary, a diary of the composer, although the songs may reveal a side of the artist they may not want to expose. I mean there's one song I wrote which is deeply personal to me and expresses my helplessness at a point in my childhood (stupid bullies!), and I think this was about my closure from that point in my life, without denying it's existence. Also take the song 'No It Isn't' written by ex blink-182 member Mark Hoppus, where the lyrics describe deep hate towards his former band member and best friend, it truly is an expression of feelings of the person...

God what an interesting thread!

I think music is our expression of heaven.

The closer we are as individuals to out 'higher self' the 'clearer' our interpretation of and therefore our 'expression' of 'it' is.

God is a DJ!

I realized this watching 'Live8' on the TV, all those people in one place, all crammed together, moved by the same 'vibe', the same as any concert really!
Take away the body's and what do you have? One mass of individual consciousness. Swimming in the colours of the music. But where is the music? It surrounds them, yet it's also within them, it is part of them yet it is is a separate entity.

Take your own music JBP, it has clarity, is educational, it is good in the wide sense, you make it to be 'good' and it is widely accepted as being 'good', you obviously 'know your self' quite well otherwise you wouldn't have even posed this very post.

But then take a child banging away at a guitar or writing 'love songs', they are within themselves fighting through 'understanding', to get to 'clarity' somewhere.

Education and environment play a role in the creating of the person, and then you get things like 'spirit' and 'soul' which do in the right environment and with the right 'education', lead to 'talent'.

So what I'm saying is : You are what you eat!

Our present is influenced by our means to express our past and our future.

So whether it is a deeply personal 'one on one' song or a Concert for the masses, they are all expressions.

lol, this is all getting a bit deep...
i think a lot of people use composing as an outlet for emotion or feeling (etc), so they can't help but give at least a little glimpse into their lives.  i think it would be hard to act in the same way through music as people can act on stage, because the ideas have to come from you (unless you're copying someone directly, lol)

ummm i think it also depends on the person, and the incentive behind the composition. if someone is writing music because they love it, then it's going to have a lot of them in it. if it's a money grabbing popular music jumping on the bandwagon kind of idea, then it'll probably have less of them and be more formulaic in the approach.

but then i'm strange, so don't listen to me.

After music is written it has to be played to be heard; right?
Well it no longer reflects the composer completely. It becomes a collective interpretation of something from the composer and the performer and can never exclusively represent anyone's feelings or personality.
How can the compositions of Bach represent fully his personality when, in reality, one can only guess what was going through his mind when the piece was being composed.
There are no recordings of his performances and, even if there were, he may have had new experiences after he composed the piece that profoundly chenged his concept as to how the piece might be performed.
Therefore we can only look and listen and create music the way we create it at the moment and learn from our experiences.