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MUSIC AS THE LANGUAGE OF THE SOUL
Kathlyn Q. Barrozo
Class of 1991, University of Santo Tomas
B.S. Medical Technology
It has always been said that music is the language of the soul. I completely agree with this statement for
myriads of reasons. Those reasons are even worth stringing into a full song, but a lyricist I am definitely not so
I’d rather do everything as I’m wont to do: write about it.
Many songs and pieces of music have been inspired by their composers’ specific feelings and aspirations at the
time of their crafting. Much like writing itself, music composition takes some sort of inspiration or motivation in
order to come out as expected. Looking at it another way, many have proven just how effective music can be at
inspiring written thought and ideas. There’s simply something about classical music that allows ideas to flow
freely. I guess the cadence and rhythm that classical music inherently possesses enable the mind to be at ease
for creating. Contrast this with rock and roll music, which seems to crash thoughts into useless smithereens.
One of my kids reviews her lessons while listening to popular music. Although I find much to be desired in
many popular music pieces, I don’t exactly know what my child finds so motivating in them. It eludes me how
she can manage to put ideas together with the distracting tunes she often plays on her cellular phone or IPod. I
asked her once about it. Her reply? She finds that listening to the “distracting” music is way better than having
to review with the entire ruckus that the road beside the house often creates. I could see her point: the angry
and reverberating sound of motorcycles and souped up cars that use the road near the house can be really
noisy. I often have had to catch myself from screaming at the inconsiderate drivers who speed by at unholy
hours of the night and scare the bejesus out of me. Imagine waking up from a bad dream with those noisy
engines ringing in your ears!
Although it has never been proven, music has been thought to stimulate a baby’s brain in untold ways. Having
a baby still in the womb listen to classical music could be one way of soothing it, but doing so could also have
wonderful effects on his intelligence. Like I have said, no scientific evidence suggests this could be true, but
there’s no harm in having an unborn baby listen to classical music. You never know what that could do.
Whether or not you love listening to music, there’s no doubt in it being able to bring out both positive and
negative feelings in people. Let’s just hope it’s the right kind of music we always listen to, not useless, mindless,
uninspiring noise. Goodness knows we already have too much of that in this world!
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1.
What type of music do you like listening to? Why do you like that type of music?
2.
Why is music the language of the soul, in your opinion?
3.
What do you think the benefits of listening to music while working or studying are?
4.
What type of music do you find most distracting? Why?
5.
If you were a composer, what type of music would you compose? What makes this type of music
special to you?