They say music is the universal language of mankind, attracting people from all different types of cultures, and uniting them as one. Each musician is born with their own heartbeat which essentially is the source of said language. Music isn't simply typed, it's a picture painted onto silence. Music has the ability to allow the listener to feel the true, raw, uncut passion that runs through the musicians' bones. Music is the medicine of the mind. Its sole purpose is to speak for those who can't find the words to say. Each piece of music screams a different tune to each person. By simply listening to a piece of music we can feel a variety of emotions. A piece of music could make someone forget everything and at the same time make another remember
everything. For some, music can make time pass faster, understand the things you couldn't understand, or even travel to places never been before. Music plays a different role in people’s lives. For example, it can create both physical and emotional bonds. Music can help us get through difficult times, help us to remain positive, and connect with others in a way that is impossible with just simple words. It overcomes language, age, and social barriers we find in society. It’s a form of escape from everyday life and the best part is when the music hits you, no matter how hard, you feel no pain.
What does music mean to you?
In order to have a better understanding at a more personal level of what music means to people I asked this question to a number of four of my friends. They all have very different and unique personalities as well as different backgrounds and ages. Let’s begin with Nina, she is a talented young woman, very musically inclined that plays the saxophone and taught herself how to play the piano, ukulele, and drums and furthermore has conducting skills. It’s as if she knew how to play every instrument that she sets her attention to. This is what she said…”I’ve been asked this very question many times and I have yet to find an appropriate answer. Music to me is many things. It’s a way for me to express myself when I have no words to say. It’s an opening into my heart and mind for others to see. Plugging my headphones into my phone is like placing the IV that's going to save my life into my arm. It’s my medicine, my lifeline on my hardest days. Music lifts me up when I’m too down but also keeps me grounded when my head is too high in the clouds. Music plays a very important factor in my happiness. I find myself most happy when I’m screaming at the top of my lungs in the car with some friends hitting notes we know we can’t hit, or at concerts where I can feel the bass vibrate through my chest and into my bones. Music to me is like a drug. It flows through my veins as my heart pumps its own beat. I don’t simply feel the music, I also create it and enjoy sharing this special talent with others. I find myself constantly trying to make others feel, not with my words, but with my music. It's so much more than a simple song, or tune. Music isn't simply music to me, it's the sounds colliding inside my ears, the feeling of the music rushing through my veins and out through my fingers when I play. It's not loved by music. It's a passion, and it goes beyond liking, and beyond a hobby. It's about a way of living. Music is essential to my life. Music is my escape. Music is a part of me, it makes me who I am. I express myself the best when involving music in some form or way. I’m even listening to music as I form this answer. Music inspires me to do my best, makes me feel powerful, and at the same time helps me show my most vulnerable emotions. I wish there was a simple answer to what music is to me. But music isn’t a simple thing, it’s complex and has many layers. Therefore, music is a lot of things to me, but most importantly, it is me. Music is who I am. You just have to listen to fully understand.”
The Music of Many Lands
Proof that music is the universal language of mankind it’s by the folk music of the world. Enjoyment of it is not confined to the land of its origin. People can and often do enjoy hearing the music of lands other than their own. Getting acquainted with the music of other lands can be a delightful experience. If you somehow happened to visit each segment of our earth you will see that each country or gathering of people has its very own trademark tunes and dance moves. Everyone has contributed their own 'emphasize' to the 'language' of music. What's commonly so particular is that an individual can distinguish the land where a specific melody or move started, similarly that we can tell an outsider's nationality by his accent.
Most ethnic music wasn’t composed by skilled composers. Some of it has existed for thousands of years. In early times tunes were created by musically inclined persons and these were handed down from generation to generation.
The words of the songs addressed love, peace, war, drinking, fictional characters, and amusing incidents. And people danced to the tunes, each group developing its own vogue. So when individuals got together at social events in town commercial centers, in homes, or around pit fires, they sang and moved to the music that had been passed on from their progenitors. Obviously, the geology and atmosphere of their land likewise along with their history, language, traditions, and personality formed their melodies and dance moves. Also, these are the things that give each gathering's people music that is impossible to miss 'complement' that distinguishes it as belonging to them.
One thing is sure​—there is tremendous variety. Aside from so-called “serious” or classical music and operas, there is a wide range of semiclassical music, and every land has its own folk music as described before, country songs, and marches. Music for dancing goes from graceful waltzes to lively polkas; there are Latin-American congas, rumbas, and Brazilian sambas, also merengues, beguines, and bossa novas, many of these having an African background. Particularly since World War I, extremely rhythmic instrumental and vocal music​—jazz, blues, swing, and rock became widespread. In some music, melody, and harmony stand out; different kinds emphasize beat and rhythm.
The Power of Music
Where does music’s power come from? From its capacity to incite a specific inclination, mindset, or spirit in people. Music can unwind and relieve, revive and even enliven. You can nearly “feel” the difference between an enthusiastic march and a delicate serenade. Music has the power to mix every human feeling, like love, tenderness, reverence, sadness, anger, hatred, and passion. From the beginning of time, man has perceived music capacity and has utilized it to move individuals in certain ways. Music can be compared with a gift, yet it is the way in which a gift is utilized that determines its value to the user.
A reality we should consistently confront is that music is a form of communication, between the artist or entertainer and the audience. Not just feelings are communicated; thoughts about something are also being expressed. After all, the songs we listen to are simply a speech set to music, the music is often helping the words (or lyrics) to penetrate more promptly into the mind and heart. Some might say that they do not give attention to the words of a song, that they just enjoy and appreciate the melody. But even without conscious attention, the words are nonetheless heard, and their effect, though slow or subtle, still is there. People who set radio and television commercials to music know this, and you probably have found the words and music of some of these commercials running through your mind long after you heard them. So, the question is, What does the music you choose communicate to you?
Music is often the medium or vehicle for spreading philosophies, political ideologies, nationalism, religious beliefs, and a host of many other things.
For example, a very famous artist that most people remember until this day is John Lennon. His message for world peace was loud and clear. His most famous song was Imagine, the lyrics to the song are and I quote...
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only the sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there are no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Sharing all the world
And the world will live as one
What do you think his message was? Did you notice the way he put the main world problems? Like wars, religions that get involved in wars, money, hunger, greed, and pride of man. He wrote that song while the war in Japan was happening and the amount of suffering that he saw in those innocent people inspired him to create a song
Part of the triumph of the French Revolution is frequently attributed to what one writer calls “the blood-curdling call to arms” of the song ``La Marseillaise. Colleges and schools usually have their “fight songs” used before athletic contests. The heavy, mystic tone in the music of certain religions fits their doctrines.
True, music’s moving effect is only temporary. But it is often long enough to give a decided push in a certain direction or to lower resistance to a certain attraction or temptation. If you studied chemistry in school you learned about “catalysts.” You learned that the combining of two or more chemicals can often be achieved only by using some other ingredients that, in effect, brings the chemicals together. That ingredient is a “catalyst.” Now, we all have certain weaknesses and wrong inclinations, and so we feel tempted at times to do certain things that are wrong.
Suppose circumstances come up that encourage you to do a wrong act. Music can be the “catalyst” that will cause desire and circumstances to combine​—resulting in something you may afterward seriously regret. Yes, the impulse that music supplies, though temporary, may be all that is needed to trigger people into a course or way of life that is itself long-lasting or that produces results that are.