MUSIC: The Great Uniter

Music is the great uniter.  While our country and world are at odds about everything including politics, religion, education, and parenting, music is something that can bring us all together.  Music is a universal language that can reach us in places deep in our soul.  It’s such a powerful force and it’s important music is taught to our children.

Music unites us at concerts

At the next concert you go to, look around the room at all the people there.  You’ll see people dressed differently, with unique hairstyles, young people, old people, people with piercings, clean shaven men, women with tons of jewelry, loners, and people there with a group.  But the awesome thing is, everyone is there for the same reason: because they love music.

It doesn’t matter what your favorite style of music is or who your favorite artist is. If you attend a concert, you are there to appreciate the music and to do so with people around you who share a liked interest.  No one around you cares about who you are, where you are from, or what struggles you are facing.  You are simply there to listen to and enjoy great music together.

 

Music is nostalgic

Have you ever been walking through a clothing store and heard music come on? Did the music ever bring you back to a place or a specific person and you immediately stopped and started smiling?  That is part of the power of music.  It can stop in you in your tracks…literally…and make your brain feel all the feels and bring back memories of something from a long time ago.

Or maybe there are several different songs that remind you of different people in your life.  It is like a running soundtrack in your head.  I’ve been known to send worship, country, pop, rock, hip hop, classical, or jazz music to friends or family just because it made me think of them.

Music can bring back memories from childhood, friendships, family members who have passed away, and places we have been.  Maybe music reminds you of a grandparents favorite song?  Or is there a song that you sang to rock your baby to sleep?  I bet there’s a song you and your college buddies danced to in the car.  Or even, maybe it is the song that played as you danced your first dance at your wedding?

 

Music reaches us emotionally

I can’t count the number of times I’ve listened to a love song, song in a minor key, happy song, or even a sweet parenting song on a commercial that makes me feel the emotion that song is expressing.  It’s incredible to think about how many people listening to the same song at the same time are experiencing the same exact emotions. Even the toughest of men have been known to cry by hearing a sad song.

If you watch a show or movie and you can’t understand what the actors are saying, you can tell by the music playing and the expressions on their faces how they are feeling, thus making you experience that same feeling.  Emotions are a powerful thing and combined with the amazing power of music, you never know when you will need to let out a belly laugh, belt out a song at the top of your lungs, or let out an ugly cry.

 

Music is a universal language

There are about 7,000 different spoken languages in the world.  Yet, it has always been so fascinating to me that a piano piece like “The Moonlight Sonata” by Ludwig van Beethoven can be read and played by so many different pianists from around the world, no matter what spoken language they speak.  I’ve sat by musicians in orchestra or band before who didn’t speak the same language, but once the conductor counted us in, we started playing our instruments in sync and the music came out as one voice.

Sounds like crying and laughter are consistent between cultures, even in remote jungle villages that have never heard music.  So, if certain emotional expressions can be universal sounds, it makes sense that music can be a universal language as well.

 

So whoever you are, wherever you come from, and whatever your beliefs are, music can unite us and bring us together.  What a beautiful thing this is.  Is there an awe inspiring music moment that you’ve been lucky to be a part of?