Value of music

Rajkumari Panthoi *

Nongju Tanthaa (Fusion Music) at Manipur Sangai Festival at BOAT on November 29 2016 :: Pix - Lamdamba Oinam

Introduction: Music is a form of art. When different kind of sounds are put together or combined together to form a new sound which is pleasing to the human ear,whether it is produce by vocal or by an instrument, it is called Music. The term 'Music' is derived from the Greek word 'mousike', which means the art of muses.

Muses include the goddess of music, poetry, art and dance in the ancient Greece. In other words,music is a threefold artform- vocal music,instrumental music and dance. It is one of the greatest creations of human kind in the course of history. Some historiographers believe that music existed even before the time when man came into existence.

Music is creative : Music is not just a source of entertainment in our life. It is something more than it. It has become very important in our life. It makes our mind more creative and innovative. Music feels our mind with art and every great invention requires art, creativity and imagination. Sometimes these abilities are provided by music. It increases our understanding ability.

For example when we listen to some song,we understand its lyrics. We try to understand what the singer is trying to convey through his song. When a person listen to an instrumental music he is using his right brain to understand what the musician is trying to say with his music without using words.

On the other hand when we are playing some instrument, we play the tone which reflects our thoughts and our emotions. In this process we use our brain to convey our thoughts with just music and without using the ability to speak. When we used our mind in music that is when we think about music, when we try to understand it, it make our mind more creative. It is related to creativity and not only among artists.

The lives of a number of geniuses including Albert Einstein and Frank Lloyd Wright confirm this. A number of innovators were involved with music in some way.

For example a physicist of Russian descent, Leo Theremin, apart from inventing sound alarm system and a number of tools used in espionage, is best known for his invention of a theremin, a musical instrument that uses a magnetic field and which people can play without touching it. Great inventors mathematician and physical theorists were drawn to music either seeking inspiration in it or being facinater by the musical code.

Music therapy: Music has therapeutic effect in the Life of Human. The idea of healing a person with use of music is called music therapy. Music therapy is beneficial for the patients of cancer, the children who are suffering from ADD, or patients of muscle pain or depression. Many hospitals have started using music therapy in their treatment process.

In most cases, doctors and therapists normally recommend soft music for their patients. This is because with the effect of the music in the heart and the entire being of a sick person, there will be revival of hope of living, joy of existence and happiness in the mind of the sick person making it easy for him or her to respond positively to treatement.

It has also prove that music can help Plants grow faster. Now South Korean scientists have proven that they are right by finding that playing music, especially classical pieces, to plants really does help them grow more quickly.

Role of Music in the society: Music is not a new happening in the world. Lovers of music including composers,singers,and listeners always have various reasons as to why they are attracted to music. However the music industry has always attracted critics with some claiming that music classes are a waste of time and that major aim of music is to enhance life enjoyment but in real sense, music can be much more than just sweet melodies, music play a vital role in the social,cultural ant political lives of a community.

Music is the best medium ever through which one can communicate about political events and their consequences. Music also help us to discover and create our own identity. There are different disciplines with the humanities, but there is one thing that has influenced our cultural identity the most i.e. music.

I say this because music told our culture's history; informed others about deeds or events that had taken place. Not only this we should also keep in mind that music play an important role for a nation as every Nation has its National Anthem.

In the society music plays an important role . It shapes cultural movement and units people within generation. Music can be of different kinds of , these different kinds of music are use in a society acoording to the occasion.

Whenever humans come together for any reason, music is there, in wedding s, funerals, graduation from college, men marching off to war, stadium sporting events, a night on the town, prayer , a romantic dinner, mothers rocking their infants.

All the art form need music inorder to make it more effective and complete: Dance and music are complementary to each other and for an effective presentation of dance performance, there ought to be a mutual understanding, harmony and co-ordination between the dancer and the accompanying musician.

From the technique of the choreography point of view, the dance composition determines the music composition. Dance music is composed specially to facilitates or company dancing.

Importance of music in movies: The function of music in the movies is a very wide field. Music can serve several purposes that are either important on the emotional side of the movie or enhance the storytelling.

It achieves a number of things: it establishes setting; It creates atmosphere; it calls attention to elements; it reinforces or foreshadows narrative developments; it gives meaning to a character's action or translate their thoughts; and create emotion". It can create a convincing atmosphere for the setting, help tell the story and strike an emotional cord, all of which are elements that will have the audience wanting more.

Music and theatre: Music and Drama have the capability of not only integrating to create spectacular visual and aural events in theatre,but they have distinct capacity to support each other.

The two piece of drama are poles apart when relating the plots, theme setting and a great many other, but although the woks have over 30 years between them in production, there are particular conventions to be found within the composition of their music scores, which both illustrate the effectiveness of the basic systems in music to develop the drama.

Music is an integral part of a play. We use music to establish a mood, provide background noise, we probably never notice it, but practically all of shows that we watch used music. In a play often tune will occur again in the show as a reprise, which can be used effectively to reveal how a character has developed during the story.

When characters reach a point in the drama where they can't help but explode with feelings of love or success or simply the joy of life, music serves to amplify these emotions to a level above mere words. Songs tell stories in a play, musicals must move quickly to establish the dramatic situation, introduce the main characters, and give audience some reason to care about them.

Exposition songs inform the audience about what has happened prior to the play and what has brought the character to this particular point in the action; they also may preview the themes of the play.

Different kinds of music: There are many different categories of music which can be classified according to their nature. Generally they can be classified as folk , classical and fusion music.

Folk Music: 'Folk' is ballad and songs which are composed and transmitted orally, without ever being written down at all. Folk as a genre , consist of a civilisations history passed down through generations in spoken word from rather than being written down and recorded. Different countries and different regions around the world, all had varying styles of the 'folk' music they produced.

Classical music: Classical music is a genre that has been put down for years it is the form of music produced or rooted in the traditions of a country. As Indian classical music is a heritage that has evolved through the centuries. It is a blend of ritualistic,folk and cultural expression of the sub-continent and represents music of different genres.

Hindustani classical music is an Indian classical music tradition that took shape in northern india in the 13th and 14th century A.D. Its origin lie in existing religious folk and theatrical performance practices.

Fusion Music: Fusion music is the kind of music which involves combining of two genres of music to create a unique sound. In India fusion music is not a very old trend. Fusion trend is said to have begun with Ali Akbar khan's 1955 performance in the United States. Indian fusion music came into being with rock and roll fusions with Indian music in the 1960s and 1970s.

Conclusion: Music enhance our lives in many ways. It can stir up the feelings of love and sympathy, an emotional song can melt the heart of even a violent person. A patriotic song awakens in one of the love for one's country. So, music in an art form which we really need in our life and should know its value.