Music is subjective, but there are certain attributes that are common to all pieces. While some consider music to be a harmonious combination of notes and rhythm, the Chinese believe that music has existed long before the creation of our planet. Like the chaos caused by the explosion but which turned out to be ordered because of the existence of non-uniform patterns, music exists in almost all sounds around us. As part of the assignment, I went to city streets to focus on the sounds that originate between concrete buildings by hundreds of cars and thousands of talking people. In the beginning, I perceived the sounds as irritating noise because of a lack of harmony. However, as I listened more carefully, I started noticing patterns that stretch far from each other. On the background, many people chattered in a chaotic manner, but when abstracting away from individual voices, I realized that all of them combined into one uniform sound. Human voices were silenced when cars passed nearby, indicating the beginning of the next cycle.
After recording a sample, I went to my computer to see if there were any cycles using a software program. Upon inspection, I noticed that some parts of the sound file had lower volume, and these calm pieces were regularly interrupted by moderate peaks. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that in most cases, environment sounds can be considered some form of music because there are cyclical patterns, parts that differ, indicating some chorus and harmony that binds all elements.
Music plays a significant role in the life of a human being. Its primary application today is entertainment, but it has the capacity to achieve much more critical objectives. Ancient Chinese believed that with music, one can teach others and communicates moral values. Therefore, when assessing an individual’s intellectual and spiritual capacity, the Chinese evaluated their listening and hearing abilities. Through hearing, the human’s mind can be reached and influenced. However, in the West, the visual perception was prioritized and was linked to wisdom. While the Chinese emphasized the importance of listening to learning about the environment, Western minds focused more on seeing. I believe that being able to hear is more important than visual experiences in some cases because there is always more than meets the eye.
Listening to the environment is vital because of the properties of music that were mentioned by the Ancient Chinese. Harmonious sounds benefit and train the mind, but the majority of people do not notice what sounds exist around them and how they interact with each other. Lack of listening skills is the primary reason why most people are not acquainted with the notion of emotional intelligence. This skill has been forgotten because we have been busy too much with seeing rather than hearing. Twenty-minute listening exercises followed by recording and reflection have taught that in any unordered collection of sounds, there may be harmony and that it can bear meaning and teach valuable lessons. Ancient Chinese strongly believed that music could influence entire populations. They linked the presence of music with the creation of the universe. It is evident that the cosmos follows specific patterns, but they are not always systemic. The same is true for environment sounds – there may not be perceivable cyclical patterns, but upon closer inspection, one still finds order and harmony.