Have you ever wondered if it is possible to tell about certain individual’s persona judging by the music he enjoys, plays or produces? Have you ever thought of the music you were listening to through your rough and joyful moments and how it affected your decisions? Have you ever thought that your favorite artists might be involved in the sculpturing of your personality? What impact did the music had on your personal agenda? So many questions are surrounding music. If you have asked yourself one of these questions you might want to continue reading. To answer those hard questions we need to ask ourselves:
WHAT IS MUSIC?
Although there is no widely accepted scientific theory of music, there have been plenty of attempts to formulate theories of music, and these could be considered possible answers to the question. In most cases the scientists who have stated the theories would not themselves claim that their theories can be known with certainty to be true.
Some popular scientific explanations of music include:
• There are certain patterns of sound which people create, which have certain emotional and pleasurable effects on the listener.
• These patterns of sound are subject to certain constraints, some of which can be described with some degree of mathematical precision, and these descriptions form the content of "music theory" which is traditionally taught to those learning about musical composition and performance. However, these descriptions do not fully distinguish between what is music and what is not music.
• Given the incompleteness of the descriptions of music provided by music theory, and our ignorance about the biological mechanics of the effect that music has on the listener, and our ignorance about why it has an effect on the listener, the only satisfactory definition of music is a subjective definition, which means providing a list of specific examples, and then saying: "music is anything like that".
So after checking the scientific explanation, which we can all agree that it can never be quite accurate and complete, I think we need to look somewhere else for answers.
I think the most accurate answer and a definition of music can be given to us by her creators and people who are coherent to music, such as poets, philosophers, psychologists and etc.
I think we should start from the early ages because music then was considered something truly unique and many great people found shelter in it and inspired them to give us their point of view on what music is.
Confucius: "Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without."
Here we see that music is pleasure. And regarding Confucius’s thoughts mankind would not be the same if music did not existed. We would not be able to relate songs with our lives and we would be cold inside probably finding comfort into the materialistic side of the world. We would judge people by their possession and conversations about music and art in general would be missing. How awful is that?!?
Oscar Wilde: "Music is the art which is most nigh to tears and memory."
You know when you are sitting in your car all by yourself and you decide to put the radio on and a song comes on and reminds you of a certain place, person or memory. Well imagine if there was no music we would not be able to relate our memories to anything and most likely they would already have faded away. This is something I do not wish to anyone.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "Music is the universal language of mankind."
I could not agree more. So many languages on this earth and still neither one is so universal as music itself. Different cultures can find common interests related to music.
Plato: "Rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul."
Something I find really interesting. One of the topics in this post is asking whether you will be able to tell of a certain individual’s persona judging only by the music he is creating or enjoying. I think that Plato solved this mystery quite some time ago and many of us are in agreement with him.
I decided to keep my favorite for desert because it is quite … ME!
Albert Einstein: "I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music."
Now here is something truly unique. A person who has dedicated his life to science (which cannot describe accurately what music is) is finding peace and lives his dreams in music. He was often singing his thoughts out loud, which means that the rhythm has inspired him to keep going solving those complicated tasks. Does that mean that he has reached the perfect balance and managed to have the most accurate explanation on what music is?
So regarding those thoughts I think I find this explanation to what music is much more useful and much more sufficient than the scientific explanation. For many people music is a temple and soul reliever. For others is a tool to express what cannot be expressed in any other form.
I am a 90’s kid so back in those days it was really easy to spot a person and to know what kind of music he listens to. Back then hip-hop was just coming out and everybody were going crazy. Dressing with baggy jeans and acting big. Also there were the metal heads, popstars, rockers and etc. The point is that they were all inspired by their idols. Kids were imitating them and their lifestyle. Everything at first was ok but after some years passed some people stayed on the same level, damaged by copying a really unhealthy lifestyle of hip-hop star, rock star and etc.
I gave it a thought and compared those styles with the style of the guys from school’s chorus and the styles of people who enjoy and play jazz and classical music. So it turns out that, the cool kids, the ones who copied the unhealthy life from early age even in successful at some point of their life were degrading quite fast. They were living life in the fast lane which exhausted them at early age. The not so cool kids were planning every next move. They were following a path which was well routed and knew exactly what was around the corner.
Do not get me wrong I am sure that music is not the only factor. I am aware that factors like mentality, family, environment and friends are also affecting an individual’s mind. I am just saying that by interacting in such a way with person’s mind, music can unlock and show you your hidden desires, goals and darker thoughts which might not be the right path. Let’s not forget that Plato said: "Rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul.”, which also might not be the best place for you.
I never limited myself to a certain style. I enjoyed any style of music. I was collecting records from different styles. I was choosing everything that inspired me. But I also have experienced those dark desires. But then again thanks to music and the right people I managed to create my own style which I describe as: Everything that makes you happy, motivates you, helps you and makes you a better person is worth hearing.
So if you are reading this then that means that I caught your eye and this post was somehow interesting or useful to you. I truly hope that you enjoyed it because you made me much happier.
Sources:
Classic FM
Wikiquote
Whatismusic.info
Source of images:
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