I believe in the solace of, in the necessity of music- the true universal language between cultures, societies and people. Nothing in this world is as calming as listening to an old favorite, nothing as nostalgic as the memories we attach to the sound, and nothing truly transcends the barriers of differing culture and beliefs the way that music can. It's existed for centuries, bringing people together since the days of tribal cultures and nomadic peoples. It's beautiful in it's varying states, it's ability to bridge time and cultures together and it's massive variety.
One of my favorite and earliest memories is going to the local pool hall with my family, a tradition we still carry on today, and hearing the familiar opening of Matchbox 20's "Long Day" as my father breaks, starting a new game. Everytime I hear the song the nostalgia kicks in- it's calming, beautiful, and a pleasant distraction from the stress of day to day life. It's a reminder of simpler times, and those opening lines engraved in my memory never fail to crack a smile on my part.
Sometimes, we are hard pressed to understand perspective we've never experienced, to see the world in the eyes of a foreigner- somehow, despite the radical differences in our lives, our cultures and even as directly as our languages, nothing stops us from understanding another through their music. Songs in languages I'd never even dream to understand are equally beautiful in the ears of the illiterate.
Music is fit for every occasion- celebrations, mourning, exercise, et cetera; its like an understanding friend, there to talk us through every problem we'll ever face and to celebrate our achievements once completed. Whether it be traditional or techno, domestic or foreign, country or hair metal, there is a song for everyone and a song for every occasion. Music is beautiful in it's variety, in it's seemingly unending and constantly growing reserves of emotion and sympathy, and brings cultures and individuals together through common thought, feeling and experience, connects them beyond the reach of our lingual limitations.
I believe music functions within society as a form of audible therapy, a tool within everyone's reach to ease them through their struggles. I believe that everyone needs to be involved within it, whether it be through simply listening and connecting or by writing and creating, contributing one's emotions and thought to the vast reserves made by their fellow man. Music transcends time, lives beyond it's creator, and hence the same notes Sebastian Bach poured his joys and his sorrows into centuries prior still live on to be enjoyed today, an immortal dedication to his life.
In short, I believe that music, as a whole, is a beautiful form of human communication, immortal and emotional at it's core. I believe that it is the most influential, necessary and universal form of human communication, unaffected by time nor space, understood beyond the boundaries of our own language and interpreted uniquely by all of it's listeners. It's abilities to inspire emotion, thought, and human sympathies are unparalleled, and it's unending variety is impressive and unsurprising, it's vast reserves growing by the day with new human experiences contributed and understood every day.
