What is Musicality?

i believe music can be experienced on as many different levels as there are levels of consciousness pertaining to our 1.senses 2.our cognitive ablilities as well as 3.our emotional perceptions. while reading these responses to the question i thought about my tivoli radio vs my "audiophile system". the radio sounds unfailingly musical, especially on jazz broadcasts- smooth with a nice beat and great texture throughout the midrange. it lacks extended high frequencies BUT OTOH there is rarely any harshness to the upper mids and treble. In the living room there's my Stereo System with tremendous dynamics, loads of detail, very low distortion, but thankfully with a good measure of emotional content as well. trouble is, with SO MUCH GOING ON, EACH recording PLUS my RECEPTIVITY at the time i am listening becomes part of a much more complex set of reactions and affects how much i am really getting into the music. for example, i have been playing around lately with some new SACD'S i've acquired and have to admit they are really very good. some would even say that once you've heard HI-REZ that "there's no going back", etc. BUT yesterday i "went back" and put on a Mozart piano concerto played by V.Ashkenazy, whose playing is so inspiring that i was, after the first few minutes of criticizing the recording quality in one part of my brain, got subsequently swept away by the performance. and after all, the cd didn't REALLY sound that bad- just not as good as some other material that i have. Of course if you ask me on another day i might go on and on about how good some recordings sound over others. BUT hey, i am just happy that, at the end of the day, i don't have to "sweat" whether or not i am having a good time.

An audio buddy once said to me long ago that someone with a large record (music) collection that overshadows his system is someone into the music. Someone with a stereo system that overshadows their music collection is into the electronics. His record collection was enormous. His stereo also sounded very good. He must of had an oil well somewhere (just not in the Gulf). No reason to disdain one type of person or the other. I enjoy the music very much, but I also enjoy the hobby/art of reproducing music. Over the years I have trended from one side to the other. When I get the bug in me, I start analysing the music and generally walk away from my system unsatisfied because I didn't hear the music, just the bass, imaging, highs, soundstage, etc. When I get through those phases and back to just enjoying the music, then the stress from work goes away and I finish the evening with a smile and the anticipation of the next listening session.
I remember one time years ago wandering around a nice stereo shop wondering why I was there. My system sounded good and was giving me musical pleasure when listening to it. Nothing in the store sounded better to me than what I already had. Then suddenly, most of the stereo shops disappeared. It makes it hard now days to listen to different systems to compare and contrast how my own stereo is doing.

Isn't it Pace, rhythm, and timing? I'll add tonality to that.

short answer... it's magic.

Somewhat longer announcement....

It seems to me just from the Ops initial post that experience also plays a significant role and not merely what devices are on hand or could be had if dreams could be handily realized.

Unless one is tone deaf or the easiest person on the planet to please, no ambiguous or haphazard set of audio appliances just thrown together is going to achieve a thoroughly involving level of musicality. Especially right off the
bat.

If such has been a past or present experience, rush out and buy at least one lottery ticket, as it looks like you’re one lucky son of a gun.

The more experience one can attain, be it first handed, by trial or error, or just from the wisdom of other’s, it’s a necessity if the aim is to obtain such an end. Truly engaging, entertaining, and honest recreation of the music one chooses to audition must contain the soul of it’s author. The force of it’s intent. The excerpt has to capture the llistener with some indescribable net that seems woven out of pure magic.

Therefore, I think it safe to say a decent connotation for the term ‘Musicality’ is that it is the sum of more than it’s more obvious and noteable segments .

it is the single most indescribable facet of music. It is life and breath were none could possibly be. It’s the allure and intrigue that simply shouldn’t occur.

It’s that element that compels us to listen further for pleasure than to listen for and await possible anomolies. It’s enjoyable and fascinating. It’s a comfortable invitation to revisit favorable memories and adventure into some as yet unknown with eager anticipation. A quality that reaches well into the mind and touch the soul itself.

It could be put as simply as the “Knee bobbing and toe tapping factor” too, I suppose.

Winston Churchill's quotation, made in a radio broadcast in October 1939: wherein he fielded a question on future events regarding Russia and/or it’s intnetions
"I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma ….but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest."
Musicality might very well be revealed as exactly that… “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”
Whatever it actually is by one’s definition, it sure is the aim and intended result so many audio enthusiasts ascribe to reproduce.

"Musicality" = a term used where there is no objective basis for preferring an item; usually in the context of justifying a purchase or as a sales tactic.