The power of music in our lives

According to “Les Beaux Arts réduits à un même principe”, written by Charles Batteux and published in 1746, the fine arts are divided into five main categories: Painting, Sculpture, Music, Poetry and Dance. Music occupies a unique position among these. Certain songs make you want to move, while others make you stand still in silence with a strange sensation in your chest that is difficult to name. In other words, it produces inner states that language can only approximate to.

According to Andy Smith, there are some reasons why “everyone should have music in their lives” (Smith, A. 2024). Music brings people together, creating social cohesion and giving them the possibility to express themselves and be understood. Also, it can improve and boost mood and health: an Harvard study (Kubicek, L. 2022) has shown that relaxing music can lower both blood pressure and heart rate after physical activity. Learning how to play an instrument can help develop a new way of thinking as well as new brain areas, improving memory, focus, and language skills. In addition, music is an opportunity to approach different social and cultural backgrounds, and its connection to joy and everyday well-being should not be underestimated.

Music often walks alongside people through changes in place, in how they spend their days, and in who they are becoming. Through shifting habits, friendships, and languages, there has always been a soundtrack, not always consciously chosen, not always appropriate, but always there. One quality of music that becomes especially apparent during these periods of transition is its portability. It occupies no space, yet travels everywhere. A song listened to in a flat in another city, at a specific moment, continues to exist exactly as it was, and when listening to it again, it brings back memories with a fidelity that nothing, not even a photograph, can match. Listening to familiar music or returning to a known artist can transport listeners back to the moment when that world was first opened to them, demonstrating music's remarkable ability to preserve emotional and cultural connections across generations. Unlike smell or taste, music tends to reconstruct not just a scene but the feeling of it. This is why certain songs become inseparable from the moments in which they were first heard, functioning as an emotional archive to which the mind often involuntarily returns.

In 1746, Batteux classified music as a fine art, and this classification was well-founded. However, one might argue that his position did not go far enough. Music is not simply one of the fine arts; it may be more accurately described as the language other arts reach for when words and images are no longer sufficient. A painting can show a sunset. Poetry can describe the feeling of watching it. Dance can embody this sensation. However, only music can awaken the feeling of witnessing a sunset without showing anything, having said a word, or having taken a single step.

This capacity is what makes music not merely one among equal arts but something closer to a foundation beneath them all.

By Pierpaolo Palermo

References

• Smith, A. (2024). Five reasons why everyone should have music in their lives. BBC Bring The Noise.

• Kubicek, L. (2022). Can music improve health and quality of life? Harvard Health.