What is music? Music is often the “universal language’’ of emotions. It is a fascination and an incurable obsession for us.
Everyone knows there are many types of music and even if our knowledge of music is restricted, we know which kinds we like and which we do not. Music is an aural art, but its effects go beyond aesthetics.
You may have heard of farmers who increase production by playing music to their animals. Recent studies show that listening to fast music while driving increases the rate of car accidents. The Mozart Effect from listening to that composer’s music has claimed to increase intelligence.
No culture is without music in some form or another. The cultural aspects of music evolve over time into intricate protocols which are passed from generation to generation. Distinct styles take shape in different communities during this musical development, and signify that they are likely to evolve in different directions.
Mixing these elements of different cultures can lead to the introduction of a new style, which was originally moulded to fit the adopting culture. With more techniques for global socializing, we now have some familiarity with musics of different cultures and can perhaps recognize the region of origin, though there is no denying that many old musical styles are being “Westernized” in the process.
Music doesn’t have to come from your own culture to be wonderful. The fact that someone is creating music out there, putting in blood, sweat and tears as well as part of themselves, so you can hear it is the point.
How did Beethoven and other composers decide how their music was going to sound? You can definitely tell they did not just put stray notes on paper and hope it sounded pleasant. They followed a set of rules, what we call music theory. It is wrong, however, to say that composers had a nice little “music theory ‘how-to guide’ that they referred to while composing. Actually, it is the other way around; our study of music theory is based on what composers wrote many years ago.
Not everything is music, but everything can be music. Music is organized sound. If you were to digitally sample a Beethoven symphony, you could conclude that the composition is many single sounds mashed together. But these sounds are put together in a very special way. Composers try hard to create works that use sounds in a way so that audiences can understand them. Composers might choose to follow certain musical techniques or break the rules. The end result is the same.
Music has its purpose. Whether it’s supposed to make you happy or melancholic, nostalgic or thrilled for the future, whether it’s for celebration or mourning, healing or hurting, or even if it’s just there to make you think, music has a purpose.
Music is provided for everyone because someone wanted it to be that way. Music is an individual’s way of communicating what they can not say with plain words.
Meher Vaswani
Grade 9 - Gandhi Memorial International School
Jakarta
