"Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence." ~Robert Fripp

Music is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony),rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike), "(art) of the Muses."

The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music vary according to culture and social context. Music ranges from strictly organized compositions (and their recreation in performance), through improvisational music to aleatoric forms. Music can be divided into genres and subgenres, although the dividing lines and relationships between music genres are often subtle, sometimes open to individual interpretation, and occasionally controversial. Within "the arts," music may be classified as a performing art, a fine art, and auditory art.

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.     ~Berthold Auerbach"

Whether you admit it or not, music imbeds our daily life, weaving its beauty and emotion through our thoughts, activities and memories. Be it any kind of music around the world, Indian or Western, Classical or Modern, music has its own place in the hearts and souls of the population.

Be it Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, English, French, Hebrew or any other dialect spoken upon this almighty Earth through time music or most precisely the streams of music has changed a lot undergoing various changes and modification that may appeal to a lot of people as enticing or to some it may not appeal at all as they would find the older forms of music much more pleasing to the ears than the youth of today.

 

Indian classical music is one of the oldest musical traditions in the world. The Indus Valley civilization has sculptures that show dance and old musical instruments, like the seven holed flute. Various types of stringed instruments and drums have been recovered from Harrappa and Mohenjo Daro by excavations carried out by Sir Mortimer Wheeler. The Rigveda has elements of present Indian music, with a musical notation to denote the metre and the mode of chanting. Indian classical music (marga) is monophonic, and based on a single melody line or raga rhythmically organized through talas. Hindustani music was influenced by the Persian performance practices of the Afghan Mughals. Carnatic music popular in the southern states, is largely devotional; the majority of the songs are addressed to the Hindu deities. There are a lot of songs emphasizing love and other social issues.

Here I have state my own personal experience, well I have finished till Vth year of classical music (Indian Classical) by the time I completed my Vth standard in academics. So, it always made me feel like 'Oh! God I have to study for music tests (both theory & practical) apart from my subjects at school'. So was like 'Ok I have to pass this, anyways I won't be able to do the higher degree after this not being of the right age (you have to pass high school to proceed to the higher course in music here)'. So, anyhow I did it and passed with flying colors but now I see that what music has done for me, not only has it made me "vocally verbal" but I can now study with concentration even with disturbance all round(a perk of coming in touch with music). 

"Music cleanses the understanding; inspires it, and lifts it into a realm which it would not reach if it were left to itself.  ~Henry Ward Beecher"

That was about my experiences with Indian Classical music, now i'll tell you all of my encounter with western classical music, it’s quite comical actually. Till High School I never really knew anything about the music of the west. Coincidently i'm have always been a great fan of Japanese Animation and it just so happened I came across a show titled "La Corda doro" an animation series purely based on western music. The show worked its magic on me and somehow or the other I instantly fell in love with the western music and coincidently now I have a fair amount of knowledge about it. 

Even when the class was over, I could not stop learning about the history of music. It had whetted my appetite, and I wanted more. I got all the music history books that I could find. I even began to research forms of music that had not interested me before in the hopes of enhancing my musical knowledge further.

"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.  ~Ludwig van Beethoven"

With 20th century music, there was a vast increase in music listening as the radio gained popularity and phonographs were used to replay and distribute music. The focus of art music was characterized by exploration of new rhythms, styles, and sounds. Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, and John Cage were all influential composers in 20th century art music.

In many cultures, there is less distinction between performing and listening to music, since virtually everyone is involved in some sort of musical activity, often communal. In industrialized countries, listening to music through a recorded form, such as sound recording or watching a music video, became more common than experiencing live performance, roughly in the middle of the 20th century.

BUT WHY DOES MUSIC MOVE US SO?

Some scientists conclude that music’s influence over us may be a chance event, arising from its ability to hijack brain systems built for other purposes such as language, emotion and movement.

Music seems to offer a novel method of communication rooted in emotions rather than in meaning. Research shows that what we feel when we hear a piece of music is remarkably similar to what everybody else in the room is experiencing.

Songs facilitate emotional bonding and even physical interactions such as marching or dancing together and thus may help cement ties that underlie the formation of human societies. In addition, tunes may work to our benefit on an individual level, manipulating mood and even human physiology more effectively than words can.

I have often wondered what it is about music that elicits such emotions. Philosophers and biologists have asked the question for centuries, noting that humans are universally drawn to music. It consoles us when we are sad, pumps us up in happier times and bonds us to others, even though listening to an iPod or singing “Happy Birthday” does not seem necessary for survival or reproduction.

Aparajita Basu

Student

B.A. in Media Studies

University of Allahabad