Music Around the World

Music is universal and respected everywhere, but music is not respected everywhere for the same reasons. Many different parts of the world have different reasons for music to be played. These groups can be broken up by either urban or rural, level of play (professional or participation), or even culture.

Africa is one culture that is pretty much based around music. Many songs are used in rituals and special events. It keeps things lively and also defines a spiritual meaning to what they are playing. Not only that, but African music was a very popular way to communicate with one another. Each song was a mesh of different rhythms. Each rhythm wasn't complex, but when put together, they make an evocative sound. In African music all four groups of instruments are used (percussion, brass, woodwind, and strings). It is a possibility that certain instruments were used because they sounded similar to animals; a goal of the instrument's creators may have been to make a similar sound to an animal.

In Asian cultures, music was used entirely differently. People with musical talent were sent to play for nobility. More closely to now, music in Asia is a major form of entertainment. The music was developed from math; the Asian people used mathematical formulas to write scales, make instruments, and ultimately write songs. Many older Asian instruments were percussion made from wood or metal. Not much music was part of religious ceremony in Asia.

Indian music was very mythological. Raga - Indian music traditionally consisting of religious feelings, melodic formulas, and rhythmic patterns - was very similar to scales when played in order. They symbolized different parts of the body depending on tempo, rhythm, and notes. Sometimes, Indians used music as something to teach like math and reading. Other cultures used music in different ways too. Arabian music was never religious. Music was prohibited in Muslim services, but music found other ways to the people through entertainment and in schools. Much Latin music was incorporated in with dance as a main way to express themselves in art and entertainment.

Because modern day scientists never heard music being played from ancient civilizations, it is impossible even with written notes to play what the music was meant to sound like. Most cultural music is being overridden with pop culture - the big profit music. Still, there are many people that hold on to their cultural music.

Music overall is associated with magic; it's evocative and spiritually elevating to those that hear it. For purposes that hire, music is played on the battlefield, during work (especially on a boat at sea), and in dance or attractions like movies. The roots of music go back to ancient Greek mathematicians and scientists, and since then has spread throughout the land.