Music As Language
Music is subjectively absorbed, but universally understood
By Eric Frank
November 27, 2016
I recently came across a friend's Facebook post contemplating his place as a musician. It stated:
Being a musician: Musicians don't make anything tangible. What we play is gone as soon as we play it. Why is it important for us to be in society? You spend your life learning how to play over this chord change or that chord change. What is the meaning of this? Why should parents encourage their children to be musicians?Just pondering these thoughts on a Sunday end of a holiday weekend. Why is music so important that even though nobody can take anything away with them, it has existed throughout history?
My beliefs are as follows..
I believe that music is one of the only languages that truly transcends time. It's our language as a species, one that sets a pace and keeps momentum in our evolutionary progress. Mathematics is another one of these languages. In my eyes, these are the two unifying languages of our entire existence; the transcendent yin and yang. The dialectic left and right brain.
As we all know, the left or digital brain deals with reading, writing and logic whereas the right or analog brain controls three-dimensional space, creativity and artistic senses. Musicians tend to be, more often than not, right-brained people. It only makes sense, right? That's not to say they are lacking in analytical skills, they are perhaps just more in tune with the ethereal. And yet, musicians have described music itself as mathematics...
Meanwhile, analytical people often lack a certain creativity or artistic quality. These are the nuts and bolts folks who very often see the dreamers' vision through, enabling thought to manifest. And that's not to say they are lacking in imagination, they are perhaps just more in tune with the tangible. And yet, any great advancement in mathematics takes great imagination...
So what do musicians make? The writer claims that it's nothing tangible, but is it not? To me, music is perhaps the realest thing I know. It speaks to me and I to it. Nobody can deny the pure electricity between band and audience at its best. Music can make our hair stand on end, bring a tear to the eye and pimples to flesh. Memories are instantly created upon hearing or witnessing music and can be recalled in astonishingly detailed manner, even in those with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Is none of this tangible?
Musicians often speak of music as language, both between band members and music as a whole. It seems to be too grand a concept to truly put into words, which is why it is a language unto itself. The music we've created and have yet to create seems to have given us access to our existence in four dimensions.
So is it unreasonable to think that the true purpose of music then, is to both track and instigate our advancement through time? The musical language is a resplendent inspiration but also a constant revision. Music is a code we're all seeking to unlock, and where it leads us and future generations is ultimately determined by all of us. We must choose to listen. We must not regress musically, linguistically, nor analytically. For this reason, the most original music is what I find most appealing, for it paves genuinely fresh ground toward emotional and intellectual advancement.
All previous notions would seem to hold true when speaking of mathematics as a human language, too. Mathematics have given us buildings, cities, flight and space travel, the Internet, satellites... the list goes on and on. These achievements are a reality thanks to the efforts of countless individuals throughout time. People of different cultures, regardless of differing physical or spatial differences, and throughout the centuries have all, in essence, been able to communicate. It's a key ingredient to humanity.
This is all pretty heady and I'll admit it's beyond me. But it cannot hurt to give pause and ponder such suspicions. We are certainly lucky to live in Colorado, a state that welcomes the creative process with such vigor and enthusiasm. We must remember to support our musicians of all levels and all types, for they are the carriers of the universal language.
Below are some of our favorite responses to the author's question:
"It's a universal language, and it speaks on many different levels"
"That unexplainable feeling you get when you listen to good music or you play music is why it's so important. The emotions are something that a person takes with them and they always remember"
"Laughter, crying, math and music...the universals that without we are unfulfilled and at risk being shallow"
"If you think about it, music really is magic. It can stir so many emotions in people and create so many strong opinions. But when it stops and the concert is over, there is nothing tangible to touch or take home. What happened to it? Where did it go? It will never happen the same way again."
"Vibrations echo throughout the universe. Motion is continuance. It lives on. Your solo is never done brother."
"I'm not a a musician, so music is magical to me. How can all of those little bits, when put together strike such emotion... It's powerful, it takes over, and it allows the listener to 'get lost'. So maybe not tangible, but definitely perceptible by feeling..and something we try to reproduce"
"All is revealed in time. Time itself is the measurement of oscillations and vibrations. "Frequencies." All things are made of music and music is also the medium to reveal all things"
"This feed is giving me life! For me, it's all about alchemy. We as musicians change the energy in our environment while playing, we inspire through sound. Even though the sounds only vibrate momentarily, we as vibrating beings are affected in the long term-we are lifted higher into our consciousness and connectedness"