Music has always been the main component of all kinds of rituals. It was (and is) used during sacrifices, or rites to honor gods. Today you hear music during the wedding or funeral ceremonies, and of course, music in church.

Music is used to create a certain ambiance which is suitable for the kind of ritual. It helps to bring people in a certain mood. While all the people are gathered in that same place, they hear the same music and often respond to it likewise. That creates a huge feeling of solidarity. Music can literally bond a people. For instance see the national anthems. A lot of people get strong patriotic feelings when hearing their national anthem; you'll only have to take a look at a major sport event to confirm that.

Since the Old Ages various people developed their music. The Egyptians developed music for their Isis cult. The Hebrew developed temple music guided by King David. There were all kinds of melodies, harmonies and tonalities. All were very typical to a specific people. Since Chinese Antiquities man has studied this behavior of music; the relationship between tones, the building of chords and tonalities etc. In the Older days music was considered to be one of The Seven Liberal Arts. These Arts were divided into two groups: Artes Sermocinales (language studies), which were grammatica, rhetorica, dialectica, and Artes Reales (mathematico-physical), which were arithmetica, geometria, astronomia, and... musica. Of these the Artes Sermocinales were considered "The Lesser Arts" and the Artes Reales "The Higher Arts". According to the Old Greek vision, Musica was the highest level of the arts. I can see a point in that. Because isn't it so that every music contains a certain complex structure which is built dependent on the sort of music and it's frame of reference? Almost all music contains a large structure that is divided in small substructures, and the substructures are divided in even smaller parts. For instance, there is a small musical cell that may consist of four or five notes. This musical cell then grows and becomes a melody. Maybe this melody is a question, and you want to create a countermelody (the answer). Soon enough you've created a musical theme. Ofcourse this musical theme interacts with other themes and musical intermezzi, until at last the tiny musical cell has become a Sonata. Listen to Beethoven's Fifth Symfony, the opening with the first four notes and how he uses these to create the whole piece. This reminds of grammar and logic. Stories are built with sentences, that contain words, and the words contain letters... The story also needs a logical construction (what part comes after that one) in all sublevels. So you have to know about the logic of harmony and tonality, in the context of the music. When you master all this you can actually write something that makes sense, but.......is it nice music? We have some missing ingredients, the bottle marked "X"; emotions. The ingredient that causes people to be moved by music.

Both Plato and Aristoteles acknowledged the fact that melodies and tonalities can cause humans to experience a certain type of emotion. According to their believes music is a strong influence on the human behavior. The soul and nature are moulded by music. Therefore it was very important that youngsters learned the art of music, not only the scientific part but also they learned to sing and play an instrument, in order to be able to understand and judge the art. Music had to have the power to tune the soul to the right tonality. Plato thus dissaproved of the Lydian and Mixolydian modes. Mixolydian melodies would cause effemination and woul be declining because of their huge amount of drama, while Lydian melodies would be too vulgar and only served their purposes in carousals. He strived for the prohibition of these scales. Better appreciated were the Dorian and Phrygian modes who stood for virtue and braveness. The Phrygian mode intensifies feelings of enthusiasm and the Dorian mode of piety and wisdom.

Today there are even more modes, scales, rhythms, tonalities, harmonies, melodies and all kinds of musical systems. Some still follow old musical traditions. Others explore the frontiers of music and sound. Every music has its own large group of adherents. Almost every household on this planet owns a stereo set to enjoy their favorite music. Notice how much music consciously or unconsciously slips into your mind on an average day. Music at the restaurant, shopping centre, airport, elevator, taxi etc etc. Sometimes totally moved to the background, sometimes loud and into your face. Do you still notice what it can do to you? Does it sometimes secretly alter your mood?

SOURCE

Related Articles:

• CCTV cameras with an ear for trouble
• Military Backpeddles on Troops in America
• Psy-Ops in the Nick of Time
• The Purpose of the Economic Meltdown
• Do as I say, not as I do

Like this? Share it with your friends!

Written by :

Carolyn Harris