Music is a form of art whose medium is sound with elements such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and texture and can be classified as a performing, fine or auditory form within the arts. However, the definition of music differs according to culture and social backgrounds; and there is no single and cross-cultural general concept defining what music is except that it is a sound through time. (Jacobs 19).
Scientifically, music is seen as a super-stimulus of musicality where musicality is that property of music that helps us define how well the emotional effect and how much we enjoy listening to music. The study of music is thus part of biology as it exists because it is created, performed, and listened to by people who are living organisms, and biology is the study of living organisms.
Sound, which is an invisible vibration, in turn, produces effect either through instruments or voices which are arranged or played in order, thus making music ordered and pleasant to listen to. There are three types of musical instruments; string instruments which have strings extended over a box or board, the sound is made by plucking the strings, and their pitch depends on the length, width, and how tight the strings are, are adjustable according to the pitch one wants, and vary according to the type of music being played, the wind instruments such as flute where the air is blown through openings into a tube, the pitch is produced when the air vibrates and depends on the length of the air column and how fast the air is vibrating. The other type of instrument is percussion instruments which have tight materials stretched across a cylinder, and when it is hit, it vibrates and produces, for example, drums, others like gongs and ring bells, when hit also vibrate and make sounds. In human beings, sounds are produced by air columns which are made to vibrate by the vibrating vocal cords. (Giles 91).
Music is always evolving, and it combines new ideas with older ones to a sound that is very distinctive to each generation. Musical works and their composers belong to different eras, which do not only relate to just the sounds but the changes in society and traditions that have played a part in the way the music is written, performed, and heard. These eras are the middle age era where the music was sacred and therefore led to the spread of Christianity and the influence of Islamic culture. Renaissance music era when the music turned secular, for sacred music composition smooth polyphony was used and printing which helped spread musical styles more quickly was introduced. During the Baroque music era, major music forms were defined, which led to further evolution of music, which was followed by a classical era where the texture of the music was homophonic. It is in a romantic era when different types and functions of music were developed, followed by 20th-century music, where there was an increase in music listening and the emergence of new technology which made it possible to record, capture, reproduce and distribute music. (Wenk 18).
Music is found in all cultures but varies according to times and places. Cultures music is influenced by aspects of that culture without excluding climate and access to technology. It expresses emotions and ideas, played and listened to in different situations, and people have different attitudes towards it, all of which vary between regions and periods.
There are different types of music that differ according to the taste of an individual, as all music has a different feeling. Some of these types are rock and pop music which have a calm feeling, a regular beat, and dance-like quality. Techno has a fast tempo, R&B, which has a lot of vocals, and hard and metal, which usually has a lot of basses and other background noise, among others. On the type of music, it is far above human knowledge to outline the existing types of music as music is everywhere and, therefore, so many. Each type is recognized according to the culture it comes from, and knowing and understanding music from different cultures helps us understand and appreciate; cultural differences which affect how and the reason why music is composed, performed and received; a cultural identity that gives us a sense of belonging which influences the kind of music we listen to and enjoy; cultural complexity, where music intertwines different identities into their way of life; cultural change in that it can help us change the cultural contexts in which we live. (Jacobs 20).
Music is created and performed for various reasons, for pleasure, religion, ceremonies, and for entertainment. Those fresh in the music industry compose music for pleasure, and they do not get their income from it; professionals get employed by institutions, broadcasting companies, and music schools. Sometimes they seek contracts and engage themselves in different settings.
Art and music form a basic function in human lives, and they lose meaning without each other. As human beings, we therefore make, create and get involved with sound in all ways, thus enjoying playing, creating, and listening to music. This is mostly portrayed by the way people listen or attend concerts as they know there they will gather with people with the same interest and will enjoy music without other distractions except for the music itself. Music affects one’s mood and makes people feel good and calm, acting as an escape or a stress reliever, thus drawing more and more people to experience it. (Giles 10).
In education, it has great importance as it helps students learn values of life and challenges their mind as they learn to read as one needs not only to grasp and interpret the unique symbols on paper but also to implement them as well. Those learning music need to find out what sounds good and develop a critical ear which will help one know how to practice, rehearse, scrutinize and criticize music performance. One can learn more by studying and analyzing music, composing, reading, and performing. Performing entails singing with others as well as alone as both necessitate certain skills. (Diamond 11).
Music is very important in our lives, and we listen to our very first melodies soon after we are born as our mothers hum lullabies to get us to sleep. As we grow, we learn nursery songs that entertain and educate us in our kindergarten years, which help us build the structure of the social and language we need to function in society. In church, we sing hymns which help us build our spiritual being and patriotic songs for national identity. In general, music helps us find our different social roles and brings us together with others with whom we share similar interests. It also plays a very important role as there are those songs that help us recall special moments in our lives, such as our first love.
In conclusion, music is an amazing thing in human life and has evolved through humans’ own evolution, starting from nothing but grunts it to the full form of music with musical instruments and musical symphonies. Because music is part of us, it will continue to evolve, and new instruments will also emerge to continue spreading its beauty. (Wenk 5)
Works Cited
Diamond, Harold J. Music Analyses: an annotated guide to the literature. New York: Schirmer, (1991).
Wenk, Arthur B. Analyses of Nineteenth-and-Twentieth-Century Music, (1940-1985).
Giles, Jennifer and John Shepherd “Theorizing Music’s Affective Power” Ethnomusicology in Canada, ed. Robert Witmer, Toronto: Institute for Canadian Music, (1990).
Jacobs, Jo Ellen. “Identifying Musical Works of Art” Journal of Aesthetic Education 24/4 (1990), 75-85.