Music as a language

Is music a universal language?
A group of researchers decided to find out. Armed with images displaying faces showing different emotional states and a number of varying pieces of music, they set about their task. They would play a piece of music and then ask the participants to find an image that reflected the music the best.
No words were used, only images and music. This they did in many different locations, situations, and communities all over the world. The people taking part in this experiment were from all walks in life, nationalities, profession's, and age groups. A pattern emerged quite early into the experiment; regardless of culture, nationality, etc., people seemed to choose the same way.

In a tribe in the Kalahari desert, a people who had never ever heard "western" music, when asked to pair the images of faces with the music, they choose a "sad" face for music in the minor keys and a "happy" face for pieces in major keys. Amazing!
 Seems there is some truth to the statement that music is a universal language. Which makes me consider the spoken language.

 What about words?
A much trickier proposition. We can say one thing and yet our facial expression may say another. Language, although it can be so very precise, can also be extremely ambiguous.

Let's consider an example: "I have told you the truth, there are no black swans" says a person who has never seen one. "You're wrong, there are black swans" says the Australian who has seen many black swans. Who is telling the truth?
 "It's cold today" says the Tahitian, "No, it's warm" says the Swede. Who is telling the truth?
Are they not both telling the truth, as they see it? And how about statements like: "You're wrong, that's not real, that's not/that is a fact, that's not/that is normal, that's the only way to do it/that is not how you do it, and so on.........

Very specific yet the very definition of wrong, real, truth, fact etc. can vary immensely. Unless we have agreed on a definition of the words, we may actually be speaking at crossed purposes.

 How about the "language" of music?

Do we find it easier to accept differing perceptions with music than we do with words?

"Wow, how sad was the music?" you say to your friend and he/she replies: "Well, I didn't find it sad, rather quite moving".

Is there a "right"( see, how ambiguous the word can be?)  answer here? Maybe your definition of "sad" is the same as your friend's definition of "moving"? How can we know? Is it important to know exactly in this case? 

The collective experience of listening to music as performed live before us in concert halls or other music venues, can be invigorating, unifying and emotionally stimulating, and at the same time a deeply personal experience.

Words, of course, at it's best, may also stimulate, invigorate and unify; I'm thinking of Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech......or Winston Churchill's "Blood, sweat and tears".

With music we can allow ourselves to become intimate with our own emotions, and still collectively be connected. Whether we are with others or on our own when we are enjoying the language of music, there seem to still always be a sense of being a part of something more than the self. Compare that with the language of words; even among friends and loved ones, have we not all at some point or another experienced times when we have felt misunderstood, vulnerable and quite.....solitary.
The language of music on the other hand, be it in Vienna, Alaska, Italy, or even the Kalahari desert, is universal it seems...and no interpretation, translation or definition, needed.

Now where did I put that flute, I got to tell you something........:)