Entertainment?
Communication?
Inspiration?
Background noise?
Unification?
Self-expression?
Emotional release?
Income generation?
Of course, it can be any and all of those, and you can probably think of more.
In time of war, military bands, marching bands and resonant drumbeats have kept soldiers focussed and marching as one. At a dance, people “move to the beat”. We need music to inspire our dancing. Music inspires thought and creativity. It “summons up the blood” as someone once said.
People of different cultures and faiths, whose spoken languages may be impenetrable to one another, can communicate through music. You can play in an orchestra with people whose language you don’t understand. The conductor may not speak the language of any of the players, but the players can still follow the conductor’s beat.
What about background noise? Don’t we all love the cheesy music they play in Sainsbury’s? Or the ancient playlist still rumbling through your local pub? Best of all, there’s the “hold music” we all love to hate – when we have to sit for hours on the phone before anyone actually arrives to talk to us, if they ever do.
Music is a primary source of entertainment. Imagine a film without music. Even the early “silent” films had music provided externally. Imagine any kind of party or fun event without music. Music sets the mood of the event and gets people talking and engaging with each other. Music can entertain us on a long drive or while running in the rain.
If you’re a professional musician, your music pays your bills. But there’s a reason you became a pro musician: you love the job. You love the music, the people, the way of life. If you don’t, there are much easier ways to earn a living!
Emotional release is important for many of us. Whatever our level of playing or singing, just making music helps us to feel better. I’m not including listening to music here, but actually making music ourselves. We can all make music, even if it’s just singing in the shower. Our anger, our tears, our frustrations or our boredom can find an outlet in music. It may be just a temporary release, but it can really help.
By “unification” I mean bringing people together. Perhaps people who’ve never met, who find themselves singing along to a song they all know, or dancing at a disco. Perhaps people who know each other but haven’t met up for a while. Perhaps, even, people who have fallen out, but who can smile at each other when a certain song is played. Very little things can make a very big difference, and the power of music is unquantifiable.
As for self-expression – perhaps this is best demonstrated by composers. Or those who improvise. If you write or create your own music in any way, you are expressing yourself beautifully. It doesn’t matter if no one else ever hears or plays the music. It doesn’t matter if it’s never written down or recorded in any way, although you may decide that you want to record what you’ve created and return to it later. Writing a song, or “doodling” at the piano can be a powerful way to express your feelings. I’ve separated this from “emotional release”, although there’s plenty of overlap, of course.
Those are my eight points, but they’re by no means exhaustive.
Do let me know “What’s the point of music?” for you. It would be great to share people’s ideas on this, or even your personal experience of music in one of these capacities, if you felt you could share that.
GUITAR AMP FOR SALE!
A friend of a friend has a guitar amp for sale, complete with speakers. He paid £850 for it and it’s in good condition. He’s willing to take any reasonable offer. It’s a VOX AC30C2 with a classic 70s clean sound. I has 2 x 12″ Celestion green back speakers, 2 channels and FX loop.
See https://voxamps.com/en-gb/product/ac30-custom/ for further information on spec.
If you, or anyone you know, might be interested, please contact me as soon as possible and I’ll put you in touch with him.
STOP PRESS!STOP PRESS!
Humoresque is on holiday next week, as it’s Half Term.
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Humoresque = a whimsical or fanciful piece of music. Be whimsical, be fanciful, but play in time!
This is Humoresque Number 51