Music and Mind Research Paper

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Music and the Universe

Music is one characteristic everything in existence possesses. For anything to be existing, it has to possess an amount of energy and these always undergo vibration. From these vibrations, sound waves are generated and these combine to form what we call music. Nothing better defines the phrase "Universal Language" than music. Every human being relates to it. Sound waves move and come in contact with just about anything existing including water, soil, animals, vegetation, other worlds and galaxies etc. Music could also determine a person's mood. This power of music on human moods and emotions can actually be explained easily. The sound waves on reaching a person encounter his/her unique energy signature which causes a unique response to each sound.

This study aims to illustrate just how music and language are related and to also conclusively show that these two have a deep mental and scientific link. Furthermore, the study aims to prove that music is a true Universal Language. Everyone across the world understands what music means and just how much creative power is needed for it. Every tribe, culture and country has its own traditional music as well as language. So, it won't be far from the truth if we say music is a global and daily companion of humans. As earlier stated, music and language differs by region and this is so pronounced that music from other areas could sound like noise. This shouldn't be a surprise as music is based on melodies built around cultural language intonations. Thus, we can boldly say that music is a global means of letting our feelings known and that music relates with humans in a distinct way.

Literature Review

i. Music and culture

Considering the popular ancient associations and traditions as much as we possibly can, it is very clear that these societies placed high importance on music. Coming back to the present-day and focusing on pop music, the degree of global acceptance even among citizens of different languages and cultures, the sheer digits of its audience as well as the enormous number of units sold and consumed is astounding. When we remind ourselves that this acceptance and actions of the consumers are totally intentional, then we have to ask this question; how exactly does music make people act the way they do?[footnoteRef:1] Knowing that music is universal and widespread and considering this has been the case for centuries further backs our argument that music is a force for good. If we critically examine the reason, we can rightly say there is there is something that music does best to our human system and this act keeps us healthy and exuberant. [1: Janet Wolff. "Aesthetic Autonomy and Cultural Politics." In the Social Production of Art, pp. 71-94. Macmillan Education UK, 1981. 72-3]

Our aim of determining the precise way music affects humans will cause us to examine other cultures and traditions. Apart from the fact that there are several things to learn from these other ways of life, our attentions could also be drawn to certain aspects of our personal traditions which we didn't appreciate earlier. There is a connection between tradition and culture. People carry out tasks in a certain manner; other people buy into this process and adopt it while the new-born generation improves the process.

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There is an efficient transfer of useful information with friends and offspring among humans. Through this, the important lessons of old which have been mastered will be passed on to the next generation. Some of these lessons get lost along the way while new ones emerge. The two common types of modifications experienced are gentle/continuous change and sharp adoption of new methods.

What came before this generation cannot be totally wiped out and a critical assessment of the novel ways of life introduced today will show borrowed ideas from the past. Completely eradicating an ingrained culture could lead to a number of negative effects. Most humans do not appreciate the link between culture, tradition and self-indulgence. There have been massive moves made towards bringing the musical preferences of people across the world together. Notwithstanding, a close study of individual cultures will reveal that music still exists in its various forms and manners within them.

Cultures from the days of old have always experienced change. These days, this change process is more pronounced due to the advent of mass media which has helped in passing across ways of life of different people so efficiently that most societies have implemented certain changes in their own traditions. The interaction within societies is a crucial cog in the wheel of culture modification and tolerance. This process has had an effect on music right from the ancient times even till now[footnoteRef:2]. The only difference is simply the speed and success of the present-day influences. A number of societies who are fighting this change process still admit their existence and their proximity. These societies, despite their seemingly immovable stance on tradition change, still get influenced one way or the other. Though the process of change via interaction with other societies and traditions is and has been the basic modifier of cultures, these days, this process has expanded from influence from friends and close dwellers to influence from cultures situated at long distances and whom there has been no physical interaction with over 2 decades[footnoteRef:3]. This study of the world's music-themed actions is greatly dependent on several information sources. The present-day cultures serve as a huge source. [2: Ibid.] [3: Janet Wolff. Aesthetic Autonomy...]

ii. Modernity and science in music

A way of defining modernity is the huge development caused by advances in technology over many centuries that is seen in the industries and urban centres. These advancements then caused a need for organizations and establishments which would train, direct and raise the interest of the new crop of up-to-date workers. Another way is that modernity defines the life-changing science and philosophy discoveries which were changing the way we do things at the latter end of the century. Some of these changes in reaction to the discoveries are increase in anti-biblical agitations, demand for new political as well as economic directions and a higher level of belief concerning age-long disputed topics like the way humans think, where they are from and how the universe functions[footnoteRef:4]. [4: Joseph Auner. "Chapter two: Expanding musical worlds" in Music in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. WW Norton and Company. (2014): 19]

One of the technological discoveries that had massive and widespread impact was recording. 1888 was the year when phonographs were produced in bulk and when 1902 rolled in, over a million.....

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