THE POWER OF MUSIC - Heran Tesfay

What is Music?I would say it's "the art of arranging tones in an orderly sequence so

as to produce a unified and continuous composition". But in reality, music does not

have a defined meaning. Music has different meanings for different people.

Music is unique in each person's life. To a musician, music is life.

They eat, breathe, and live music. Music is their passion. For others it's a hobby, a pastime.

Music is something that brings passion and melodies to the ears,minds and hearts.

Music has the power if nostalgia.It is pure magic. It is a wonderful gift to humanity.

Music moves us, and soothes us. It stimulates. It makes us want to dance

or sing. It makes us feel happy or sad, inspired or uplifted. It affects our

mood in all kinds of ways. It can differ from being slow to wild: from a

lullaby to a cry for a revolution.

The following definitions are taken from an article that defines music according to different perspectives.

Music is science

It is exact, specific; and it demands exact acoustics. A conductor's full score is a chart,

a graph which indicates frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody, and harmony

all at once and with the most exact control of time.

Music is mathematical

It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of time into fractions which must be done, not worked out on paper.

Music is a foreign language

Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French; and the notation is

certainly not English &endash; but a highly developed kind of shorthand

that uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language.

Music is history

Music usually reflects the environment and times of its creations,

often even the country and/or racial feeling.

Music is physical education

It requires fantastic coordination of finger, hands, arms, lip, cheek, and

facial muscles, in addition to extraordinary control of the diaphragmatic back, stomach,

and chest muscles, which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.

Music is art

It allows a human being to take all these dry, technically boring (but difficult)

techniques and use them to create emotion. That is one thing science cannot

duplicate: humanism, feeling, emotion, call it what you will.

Music may feel different to different people.

Music is all of these things, but most of all music is life.

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”

― Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols