Music, a major example of inclusive non-verbal communication, remains a universal language around the world. Through the use of different languages, people can communicate their ideas freely through the interesting structure of songs. Songs contain traditional instruments, unique playing styles and different contexts of music and these not only distinctive but also inclusive characteristics make music take the role as a universal language.
The non-verbal trait makes it effective for emotional expression. The use of dynamics, tone, key and melody is decisive of the overall mood of the song. This conveys the feelings and the purpose of the composer. Through listening to different styles of music with distinct emotional expressions, people empathise with the composer and feel certain feelings. Sound itself is a universal phenomenon and the human brain is organised to react to certain patterns in music. This musical feature helps people from diverse backgrounds enjoy the power of sound all together.
Through the diverse backgrounds that gather together, cultural exchange progresses. Different from other verbal texts or messages, music is perfectly suited to the sharing of cultural identities. This includes the cultural history contained in the song and the different traditional musical instruments that are used to form a song. As a nonverbal form of language music aims to share different cultural ideologies or common traditions that exist in certain societies or regions. To make it more accessible, advances in technology and the globalisation and media help music take a modern role as a universal language. When originally music could only be transferred in person, platforms such as Youtube Music or Spotify exist so that music can also be heard digitally. To make the technology of music more advanced all my music programs using the MIDI are further developed to collect different sounds existing in our daily lives.
Music exists in diverse forms to take its role in the global community. Even though it doesn’t contain many words, the non-verbal characteristic it has assists music to become a form of communication that can be enjoyed and listened to by everyone regardless of their culture, their background or the society.
Dabin (Oscar) Kim
Member of Sonitas, NLCS Hub’s content creator
