There is a common misconception of music that is shared throughout most of the world. The majority of people are in agreement that music is the "Universal Language," and that it speaks to all people no matter the boundaries or the differing cultures. This perception is very misleading and is slightly ignorant, because if one truly studied the varying music around the world, they would know the truth of this matter. I will explain my stance on this issue below, as I take the perspective of an musician and (unofficial) Ethnomusicologist.

Music has a way of captivating large audiences and speaking to all kinds of different people. However, would an Aborigine hear and feel the same way to our culture's music, as we do? The answer is no; our culture's music is completely different than theirs. We have grown accustomed to the feelings and our association of emotion with our standard Western music, however some cultures would consider our Major and Minor Keys/Scales out of tune or bizzare. This is not to say though, that this Aborigine would not be able to recognize the foreign sounds as music. It is understandable that most if not all people can distinguish music apart from other sounds or noises, even if those sounds have never been heard by them before. In that way, music is Universal. All people can recognize another culture's music as music, but can not understand or interpret what the music's true purpose or story is. What may be considered dramatic and spiritual in Africa, may sound tribal and primitive to us in America. It is for these reasons that many misconceived perceptions have been formed and hence music is unjustifiably labeled as the "Universal Language".

With all of that said, I would like to discuss some interesting information that I discovered when researching for this topic. During the research of this article, I listened to many different pieces of music from varied cultures around the world and found that some of them were eerily similar. For example, I found that lullabies from around the world had a tendency to play similar intervals in they're melody. Now perhaps this is coincidence, but Ethnomusicologists believe that songs or forms of musical _expression are inherently human and defined to our species. The reason Ethnomusicologists believe lullabies from different origins are so familiar is the fact that humans all "Baby Talk" to babies and infants; for which lullabies were created. "Baby Talk," involves high pitches and trying to sound as innocent as possible, and that is the supposed basis for the lullaby. It is thus easy to understand why they all may be related to each other. For example of this theory at work, here are two different songs from two completely different cultures. The first one is a Bengali Lullaby known as "Come, O Sleep," and the second similar one is "All the Pretty Little Horses," an African American lullaby. When one listens to these two pieces, they will recognize the similarities in melody for both compositions.

In conclusion, I hope this article was both informational and "mind opening;" as I believe we all should continue to learn and be open to new things that may be foreign to our culture.

© 2006 By Kyle Hicks. All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission

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