Transparency Item: The Perspectives section of the Graphic is comprised of articles based on opinion. This is the opinion and perspective of the writer.
In a world overflowing with facts, logic, science and technology, it’s rare to find something that feels so unexplainable. Music has the ability to do something within this world nothing else can.
Music can uplift, symbolize, unite and heal. It can break hearts and mend them. It can energize us one moment and calm us the next.
What begins as simple sound — vibrations pulsing through speakers — becomes
something far greater than noise. It touches something within us that nothing else can. I’d say that’s pretty magical.
The definition of music varies between cultures, religions, individual interpretations and philosophical perspectives.
There are two main literal definitions of music. The first is music is vocal, instrumental or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody or harmony. The second is the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary.
But it goes far deeper than that.
Legendary composer Ludwig Van Beethoven said music is “the modular between the spiritual and the sensual life,” calling it ” the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend,” according to ClassicFm.
Famous philosopher Aristotle said “music ought to be used not as conferring one benefit only but many; for example, for education and cathartic purposes, as an intellectual pastime, as relaxation, and for relief after tension,” according to St. Olaf Pages.
Religions such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism use music to serve as a way for worshipers to express sacred texts and ideas. For example, Christians sing worship songs during church services, Jewish services consist of chanting prayers and verses from the Torah and Muslims recite prayers through melodic Arabic tones. Cultures and faiths around the world use music to unify people and foster spiritual connections.
It’s been proven music existed in the lives of the earliest human beings. Humans may have expressed themselves through song before forming grammatically complex sentences, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Music has always been a fundamental aspect in the evolution of humans.
The phenomenal part of music is humans didn’t necessarily create it — we discovered it. In fact we don’t entirely know when music even began. There are studies that show that music originated in outer space, where the stars produce frequencies and vibrations, orchestrated similarly to the music humans create, according to NASA.
It exists in the worlds of every species on the planet. Birds, whales and countless other species produce sound and frequencies that serve as essential forms of communication, according to National Science and Media Museum.
Music is woven into the fabric of our species. To be able to interpret it, create it and feel it is a unique and powerful gift.
Whether it’s playing music, listening to it, writing it or humming a tune, every human being can connect to it. Music is pervasive — it surrounds every aspect of our existence.
Humans took something infinitely complex and turned it into art — orchestrated masterpieces of sound and emotion. Existing in the same world as music is one of humanity’s greatest privileges.
It’s hypnotic, elusive, captivating. Music serves as my vessel to transport through time — to certain places, certain moods, certain memories.
I grew up in a home with music constantly blasting. Whether it was while my parents were in the kitchen cooking dinner, or during the drive to school every morning, music filled every corner of my childhood.
Car rides with my dad often became lessons on the music of the 80s and 90s. I would show up to school in second grade naming every band member to the legendary bands of each decade.
One of my prized possessions was a Walkman that my dad held on to from decades prior. I quickly learned I was probably the only 8 year old of my generation who even knew what a Walkman was.
Nonetheless I was always kept pretty cultured on music. Even though I may not be a musician or know how to play any instruments, music has always been one of the greatest enrichments in my life.
I felt the magic of music for the first time when I learned that a song could make me cry.
Sometimes music hits hard because we can see ourselves in the lyrics. Other times it’s because we can feel someone else’s passion bleeding through the song and the emotion becomes contagious.
Music gives me the ability to hear someone’s heart and soul echo through lyrics and sounds. Even when the story of a song isn’t ours, the feeling still has the ability to find us.
Maybe it’s a reach to say music equates to magic, digging far deeper in something than than I should be — but that will never fragment my love for it.
I see music as something far beyond words and sounds and noise — it holds a power that I feel can only be defined as magic.
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Contact Eva Shauriki via email: eva.shauriki@pepperdine.edu
