One scholar says that music is “an arrangement of sounds and silences.” That seems reasonable enough, but then the more difficult question becomes “WHY is music?
The arrangement of sounds and silences is a language which communicates a message, which can be expressed either in a written or played form. This language is uniquely suited to express emotion — it has the power to directly invoke a feeling. It is entirely unlike everyday language, like the one I am writing in, because everyday language, used by ordinary people who are not poets, can only describe emotional responses, not evoke them. We know that emotional health and well-being are extremely important for normal functioning human beings, so it is not hard to see why having an emotional language is evolutionarily beneficial. If someone is feeling blue and is not joining the hunting party, playing a hunting march is a convenient and easy way to tap directly into the emotional state of the listener and modify it to suit society’s needs. The components of musical language develop over time due to particular cultural configurations. There is nothing particularly sacred or special about ha
