by Filmgirl37

Created on: September 15, 2008

The Meliflousness of Music Has A Masterful Effect On the Melancholy

If I had the patience to peruse any academic journal on the study of, or the subjects related to music, it is almost a guarantee that I would stumble upon the perfect explanation of what music is from a scholarly perspective. And while that would most certainly aide in my ability to formulate a definition of music that is as organized as a definition of music could possibly be, it would also detract from music's magic and its very individual (personal) and sometimes sacred significance to the person or organization from whom that definition is generated.

So, I will labor long and hard here in an attempt to comprehensively define something that I truly believe by its very essence is undefinable. In the most mechanical of terms, music is a series of notes, pitches (or sounds) that are each a certain length and that occupy a very specific space in time. And the very deliberate organization (or structure) of those notes, pitches (or sounds) that is usually at the sole discretion of the composer, the arranger and his colleagues will both very much determine the genre and mood or "feel" of the piece as well as its impact on the listening audience.

And yet on a much more emmotive, individual level, music is both a very complex art and math that in and of itself is its own universally recognizable language. By its very nature, music is a natural eliminator of the barriers that exist betwen persons and societies at war and music's instinctively soothing effect is often used for a variety of personal as well as medical and social purposes including:

1. Relaxation and meditation
2. As a theraputic mitigator or healer of the Handicapped ("Music Therapy" is a discipline that was designed to be particularly useful in addressing the needs of children or adults diagnosed with autism and other social or behavioral disorders)
3. As a soothing mechanism for an unborn or newly born, upset child
4. As background noise to cut down on the total monotony and "insanity-inducing" quality of a completely silent space
5. As one component of noise or "background words" utilized in "suggestive or subliminal" selling techniques or schemes in places such as medical and dental offices, grocery stores and other highly recognizable retailers
6. As an ice-breaker in places such as bars, restaurants and dating clubs where it is assumed that the addition of music will both cut down on the ackwardness of a first meeting (potential romantic encounter) and provide an adequate springboard or mutual identifier to both parties from which it is highly likely that a conversation will spark.
7. Sound waves act as a synthetic endorphine that gradually seap into the mind of a clinically depressed person and work as an agent to promote a hopefully transforming and permenant happiness.

In sum, music is a very interesting dichotomy between the highly impersonal and the highly emotive and personal realms. Any piece's very deliberate structure of notes, pitches (or sounds) that is mentally set forth prior to composition often either denotes a particular genre or is designed to evoke certain obvious emotions from its listening audience or the individual to whom it is directed.

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