Food, shelter, love, and music, these are basic human functions. Music doesn’t exist with us, the frail humans that can actually create. I think we all have a need to create, regardless of the scale. People I know have always found music to be a significant part of who they are, either through listening or creating. It doesn’t matter if it classical, contemporary, live or recorded.
In all levels of education, music has immense worth, yet when backward government leaders slash budgets and music is taken from our schools, society suffers. All over America arts and music are usually looked upon as an extra discipline that it is not essential to the function of our society and culture. If this is so, why then is it everywhere? Yet music is a part of mainstream media, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, and America’s Got Talent just to name a few. While I don’t watch these shows with any regularity I think they are important from a musical standpoint, even if the reasons behind them may be misplaced.
Clearly, music is a powerful force that drives all of us. Maybe it is not a universal language but maybe a universal feeling. From the late great Townes Van Zandt, to the bands from the 60s, music means a great deal to so many of us. So listen, support, create, and feel the music around us all.