Today I want to talk about the concept of music as a language. We often hear people say that music is the “universal” language, but what exactly does that mean? I know from experience that I hear music VERY differently from a lot of my neighbors. Can we really say that music is a universal way to communicate if we all hear it completely differently?

There does appear to be a broad spectrum of music that everyone seems to hear about the same way. For instance, everyone seems to be able to appreciate The Beatles (rightfully so), and I don’t think anyone has thrown rotten fruit at a string quartet for playing “Ein Klein Nachtmusik.” But once we start delving into the more esoteric realms of the music world, the level of appreciation from a lay audience tends to dwindle. For instance, I had a student of mine listen to two very different saxophonists, Charlie Rouse and Joe Henderson. After listening to both of them, she said she preferred Charlie Rouse. When asked why, she said that Joe Henderson was “doing the same thing over and over again while occasionally inserting a random scale pattern”, while Charlie Rouse had a more developed approach. To be fair, I had similar feelings about Joe Henderson when I first listened to him back in high school, but I certainly appreciate his genius now.

A further example of some less accessible music would be John Cage’s 4’33”, which is literally 4 minutes and 33 seconds of someone sitting in front of an instrument without playing it. I remember one of my high school teachers saying that this peace was John Cage’s way of saying: “What’s the point of even writing music anymore?” In reality, John Cage was calling attention to the music all around us. Every performance of this piece is different depending on the audience. I even know of a professor of mine who got booed in the middle of a performance! Once again, I didn’t understand the point of this piece when I first heard it, but now I can appreciate its genius. Can we really call music a universal language if we need someone to explain its purpose to us?

Now, I want to hear what you think! Is music really a universal language? Why or why not? Would everyone appreciate Joe Henderson or John Cage or [insert preferred weirdo here] if they just listened to them enough, or is there something deeper that resonates with all of us that some of us understand that others simply cannot? Leave your comments below.