Music ....what is it?

 

I don't know of a time in my life when music has not been my constant invisible companion. As far as I can recollect, I think I was only three years old when I decided I wanted to become a jazz pianist when I grew up.

As a child I used to wonder about music; what was it really?

Bypassing taste and such and trying for a relatively objective definition: Music is an art form consisting of sounds and silences, or organised sound. Common elements are: rhythm, melody and harmony along with dynamics, timbre and textures. (The word music comes from the Greek word "mousike"; art of the muses.)

Did us humans invent music, or did we merely discover it?

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent” wrote Victor Hugo.

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination
and life to everything.”  (Plato)

Regardless of how music came about, it is here and in most societies it plays an integral part.

We have music at weddings, funerals, parties, openings, closings, celebrations, festivals, sports events, church settings, et cetera.

Music has become such a common part of everyday soundscapes that we now perhaps don't even consciously recognise it's presence. There is music in the elevators, shopping malls, waiting rooms, lobby's, basically where there is waiting to be done, there is music. What about movies, documentaries, TV series, advertising?

There are some films, TV series, and ads, that have such an impact on us that even decades after seeing them we can easily hum the music before recalling specific images in our minds.

We may remember the song playing when we met that special someone, or when that special someone dumped us, there may be certain types of music that become a language of connection with the like minded, there may be music that assist us in expression of emotions words cannot express, there may be music that soothe and calm our souls, there may be music that energises and motivates us, there may be music that help us get in touch with the "sacred", and there may be music that allow for us to step out of the ordinary and enter the extra-ordinary.

Music, for most of us, affects our emotions, so we often listen to music that reflect how we feel. At other times we may want to change our mood so we may choose to listen to music opposite to how we feel.

According to American Music Therapy Association, music can be curative and restorative for a wide variety of conditions. For some it may help lower anxiety, lift a depressed person's spirit, and help people with trouble sleeping or falling asleep. Some scientists have found that music stimulates more parts of the brain than any other function.

Interesting to note is that although the connection between music and emotion is fairly obvious, why is it so?

Why do so many of us connect so deeply with music?

Often we use the word "touch" in regards to music. Some people "feel" the music in their bodies and feel prompted to move with it; dance, jump, twirl, etc., others may feel that they need to hum, whistle, or tap along. "Did you hear Jeff Beck play Nessum Dorma, I was so touched by it I had to hold back my emotions." "Every time I hear that song xxx, I just have to get up and dance, it just makes me want to move my body."

"I was feeling so stressed out, but when I came home I just put on "Kind of Blue" with Miles Davis and calmed right down." 

On a personal note, I remember exactly where I was when I heard the song "Bring me to life" with Evanescence. I was on the way home from a late night music gig, halfway home, when the song came on the radio. I was touched by what I heard, not only by the sincere and passionate singing, the evocative lyrics, the emotive and inspired composition, but by the music. What I heard affected all of me; body, soul and mind, I was overcome.

Interesting is that what touched me, may have left someone else totally cold. I once challenged my younger sister's then boyfriend (who said he hated classical music), to come with me to listen to a live performance with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra playing Dvorak's "New World Symphony". Conclusion: He loved the performance, the music, said he "felt touched" by the music. Sitting up front in a large concert hall with the full force of a symphony orchestra playing "at you", it can be hard not to become affected by the music.

 "Music is not only able to affect your mood -- listening to particularly happy or sad music can even change the way we perceive the world, according to researchers from the University of Groningen." (Sciencedaily.com)

 

“If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.”   (Charles Darwin)

“Music is the universal language of mankind.” (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

 

If music is the universal language of mankind, I wonder why some do not speak it?

I have spent hours trying to imagine a world without music.......I know there are some people who have little interest in music of any kind, who find music intrusive and un-necessary and at best a useful social lubricant, but for me, a world without music is a lesser world.

There are people who may be terrible at expressing themselves with words but amazingly eloquent with the help of music,

there are people who may feel inadequate with language, but who feel free and liberated when they move their bodies in harmony with music,

there are people who cannot speak without a stutter, but the minute they begin to sing even a nightingale cannot keep up.

 

“Music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common.” (Sarah Dessen)

“Joy, sorrow, tears, lamentation, laughter -- to all these music gives voice, but in such a way that we are transported from the world of unrest to a world of peace, and see reality in a new way, as if we were sitting by a mountain lake and contemplating hills and woods and clouds in the tranquil and fathomless water.” (Albert Schweitzer)