“Not everybody is musical, but probably nobody lacks entirely the ability to experience some pleasure through music. There is no nation, culture, or period in which some form of music has not existed. Such a universal phenomenon must fulfil a deeply rooted human need…”1

It seems that the importance of music can hardly be overestimated: it has been recommended that expecting mothers sing and play music for their yet unborn children, that for a quick boost in studying-power college students turn on some classical tunes.  Even the NY Jets are trying to take advantage of what’s been touted as the “Mozart effect.”  But this all seems to me to miss the point:  music is an integral part of us.  Music “induces in us a sense of the infinite and the contemplation of the invisible;"2 without it, "life would be a mistake."3     "Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words;”4 and it “...produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.”5

So why should we study it?  We understand music intuitively; we respond to it naturally.  That we recognize its power is demonstrated by its constant presence in our lives.  So what's to learn about something we seem to already know? 

The study of music then, either in form of appreciative listening or learning to play an instrument, is the study and development of a language that we are born understanding, but must learn to speak.

And it is well worth learning:   “a musical training can overcome the ‘spiritual poverty’ that perpetuates social and economic inequality, giving young people the internal resources to overcome a disadvantaged background.”6   Music teaches solidarity, punctuality, organization, maturity and responsibility.⁷  Shin'ichi Suzuki developed his world-famous method of teaching music because he believed “if a child hears fine music from the day of his birth and learns to play it himself, he develops sensitivity, discipline and endurance. He gets a beautiful heart.” 

Music has been a prevalent form of expression since recorded human history (and likely before); its power is hard to exaggerate and its benefits are hard to outnumber.    It  enriches, enlightens, enlivens, heals; and studying it helps us tap into that force.   Once we've learned how to speak there's no telling what we may want to say.

© 2007 Rebekah Schaub