MUSIC-by Paloma Macazaga

MUSIC

Music is an art form, a cultural activity, an “organized sound” as defined by the French musician Edgar Varèse. It is an abstract concept which can be perceived in many different ways in each mind, and varies a great deal from a genre to another one. The denotative definition from the dictionary is “an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color”.

The concept of music, as well as the music itself, has been developing to our days since the very beginning. There is evidence that people used instruments to produce sounds during pre-history, but the aim of this activity was to communicate with others and to repeat the sounds from nature so it isn’t considered as music. The origin of music is believed to go back to Ancient Greece, but it wasn’t until Catholicism was spread that music really became known and important since they used sacred music and Gregorian chants to praise God. Musical notation appeared during the 6^th century a.C. and since then, people have been able to pass on music so that it wouldn’t be forgotten.

Nowadays, the main music genres are rock and roll, pop and electronic music. You can often hear these types of music all over the world, but there are many more genres like regaeton, rap, metal, classical music, blues, jazz, country…

We hear music everywhere, and it is an important part of our lives. We can express how we feel through music, we are able to relax listening to the right music, we can have fun with others, it can bond people together, it has medical effects on our brains and it is good for our health. Music is one of the most important parts in movies, especially scary movies because the kind of music that is played makes the blood pressure increase making it easier to get scared. In the past, people used music to teach and to transmit traditions as everything is easier to remember with rhythm.

I think that music can say a lot about a person, it can tell you what their personality is kind of like and mostly in what mood they are. Music represents the personality of the composer, and the interpretation of the songs reflects how the listener is.

I personally love music and can’t live without it. My favorite movies are musical films, and I’m always listening to music, for example right now. I like many music genres and I like music from all times, and even though I really like the music from these days, I love the music from the past century. Also I like to play the piano and I mostly play classical music and sometimes movie soundtracks.