Philosophy of Music
Some people call it science, some say it’s a language, and some even believe it’s magic. But one thing is for sure, music is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and probably the most powerful tool in the human creative process. In this short blog post, I’ll try to sum up what I’ve learned so far about the creative power of music from a philosophical point of view.
Over the course of recent history, music had the power to influence social change. To stop wars and protect human rights. Today music is mostly a source of entertainment. It’s an industry surrounded by glamor and showmanship. But about 2600 years ago, music was, together with mathematics and astronomy, considered an essential part of human knowledge.
Music is immediate beauty
Music is a sort of harmony. A state recognized by great philosophers as immediate beauty.
It can cause us to feel. It can depress us, motivate us, calm us or emotionally heal us.
It can literally touch us like no other form of art can. Simply because music is actually a physical matter.
It’s a vibration. Once emitted, it vibrates across space. If music is played loud enough, we can feel it on our skin. It can move us, make us dance, or physically hurt us. Music says more than words, and when combined with poetry or just the human voice (the most vital instrument), her power is even stronger.
Most of the music we listen to was created in the 19th and 20th centuries. But I can’t help wondering what was the role of music in ancient times and among ancient civilizations.
Ancient sounds
There are theories that ancient people used technology based on sounds (vibrations) to move and cut stones. Which is supposedly how the pyramids and other great monuments across the world were built.
Plato declared that music and poetry existed amongst the Ancient Egyptians for at least 10 000 years, and Pythagoras raised the art of music to another level by demonstrating its mathematical foundations. He then applied his law of harmonic intervals to all the phenomena of nature, even going so far as to show the harmonic relationships of the planets, constellations, and elements to each other, calling it “The Music of the Spheres.” (This was probably Coldplay’s inspiration for their hit Album ). Pythagoras also often influenced his mind and body with what he termed “musical medicine.”
Architecture is crystallized music.
Other Greek mystics introduced a concept of the relationship between music and physical form. The elements of architecture, for example, were considered comparable to musical notes. So when a building was being built, it had to satisfy the mathematical requirements of harmonic intervals. This analogy between sound and form also led Goethe to declare that architecture is crystallized music.
Nikola Tesla said that particles of light are written notes and that numbers are signs that mark the music of the spheres. He also said that If Einstein had heard these sounds, he would not create his theories of relativity because these sounds are messages to the mind that life has meaning, that the Universe exists in perfect harmony, and that its beauty is both the cause and effect of creation. This statement goes along with Issac Newton’s recognition that the supreme law of harmony exists in the Universe. Defining that curved space is chaos, and chaos is not music.
Conclusion
Hearing all these great minds speak about music in this metaphysical way makes one think, are we, as an advanced civilization, using the power of music in the right way and for the right purposes? Probably not, because music is far more than a source of entertainment. It’s a source of universal creative power, made to maximize our creative potential.
