The Language of Song

Blog 6: The Language of Song

   I do not intend this blog to be about me, except to address why I initiated a course of self-study from The Teaching Company entitled Understanding the Fundamentals of Music and then described it in previous blogs as the study of a new language.

    Although I studied the sciences for ten years of combined undergraduate and graduate course work and research and earned my living for over 30 years as an industrial research scientist, I have always had a love of the arts in all its forms. Now I have found a niche in the language arts, but sometimes wonder whether I might have become a musician instead of a writer if I had any inherent musical talent or received any musical training as a child. Sadly, I do not and did not.        

     In spite of its ability to entertain and move me emotionally as much or more than the written word, music has remained a magical mystery to me. I do not expect my current study to impart any musical talent where none now exists, merely to strip away some of the esotericism of the art form. I want to learn the language of song.

    Years back, I strummed chords on my acoustical guitar and sang to my young children. I learned the basic guitar tuning but never understood it. The piano keyboard was more logical, the linear (in space) progression of 88 pitches from low on the left to high on the right, though I never learned to play the instrument. I held season tickets to the symphony for several years and got to appreciate the live performances. Still, I did not learn exactly when to applaud and when not to. My collection of tapes, CDs and digital recordings grew to include samples of operatic and instrumental music from the Baroque through the romantic and modern eras. Jazz is an equal favorite. But I do not understand the language of song.

    How does one define language? I’ll list a few select examples to illustrate the scope, complexity and difficulty of comprehensive and exact definition.

• Audible, articulate, meaningful sound as produced by vocal organs
• A formal system of signs and symbols including rules for the formation of admissible expressions (how completely different from the first definition)
• The vocabulary and phraseology belonging to an art or department of knowledge

    (and one I particularly like)

• Human capacity to acquire and use complex systems of communication

    None of these definitions captures the full concept of language, nor do they all combined. Conversely, not all forms of language comply with any of the definitions. The language of song, music, certainly fits multiple definitions with its own vocabulary, rules or conventions of construction of phrases and more complex assemblages and its globular alphabet of signs and symbols. Most significantly, music communicates in ways words alone cannot.

    The development of languages is a fundamental part of human development (see blog 5) enabling not only precise communications but our ability to organize complex thought. Vocal music and possibly primitive instrumental music may have predated the spoken word as forms of communication. In any case, the history of music is rooted in these primal forms of human expression and interaction that seem universally present in ancient societies. The interweaving of musical and human development forms a fascinating backdrop to the fundamental lexicon, syntax, esoterica and idiosyncrasies of modern musical language that you will see in future blogs.

Richard Allen Anderson < :-(      ProetryPlace Blog 6