Music
I think that everyone these days will agree that music is a powerful medium. Throughout history, music has been used as the battle cry for a generation, a rallying cry for aid, and as a cry for peace. Music has become part of history as well as a griot of history. It marks the time and the social, economic, and political trends and happenings of the period. Music from the Harlem Renaissance depicted the discontent of African Americans of that time. Songs like Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" lamented the horrors of lynching that were prevailing during this period. Bob Dylan's "Blowin in the Wind”, written in 1963 spoke of issues from war to slavery. Edwin Starr had a song called "War" protesting the Vietnam War; Marvin Gaye spoke of war, poverty, racism, drug abuse and more in "What's Goin On." Forty three artists (not all musicians) banded together to record “We Are the World,” a song sold to raise money for the Ethiopian famine in the 80’s. It was so effective that it was repeated by new artists in 2010 to raise money to aid Haiti after the horrific 2010 earthquake. These are just a few examples of music reflecting the sign of the times and also affecting change.
Why is music so powerful? Many scientists these days are spending a great deal of time figuring out the physiological and psychological effects of different tones, notes, and scales. But any lover of music will simply speak of the evocative nature of melodies, rhythms and lyrics. They will tell you the special significance of different songs in their lives. Many will even recall memories at the sound of a particular tune. I once thought that music gets inside of us and becomes part of who we are. Now, I know that we are born with music inside of us as much as we are born with a heart. In fact, the heart itself is a musical instrument. It beats like a drum, keeping the tempo of our lives.
Everything that exists, both seen and unseen, emits a vibrational resonance. In other words, everything vibrates. Music, then, is a series of vibrations. Perhaps this is why music is such a unifier, a common denominator, in mankind. Everyone is a musician, a walking instrument. There are a lot of people who do or are trying to make a living creating music. Many of these musicians are aware of the unifying power of music and use it for that purpose. Making quality music that people will like is not an easy task. Making quality music that illuminates our connectedness and causes us to feel this connectedness is even more difficult…but it happens.
The awareness of connectedness is a sign of consciousness; therefore, music that evokes this awareness can be seen as conscious music. This can be music with lyrics about coming together for a cause or loving one another or a higher power. It can also be music created with specific tones which change the frequency of your brain, like binaural beats. (We’ll talk more about this in another article).
The Power of Music
by Empress Ashaki
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