MUSIC IN LIFE
Music is the only language with the contradictory attributes of being at once intelligible and unstranslatable.
– Claude Lévi-Strauss,The Naked Man(New York: Harper & Row, 1981)
Music occupies an important place in our daily lives. When we draw an analogy between music and sport, in the sense that they both involve practice and performance, we get a clearer picture of who we are, and of the social, moral and aesthetic values that guide our existence.
Music varies from one society to another. A means of communication, the rules that govern it and the environment in which it is produced are specific to each society.
Our personal nature and the knowledge we acquire from our surroundings determine our interest in this art form. These cultural values influence our perception and understanding of music, and allow us to decode the symbolic messages it can convey and to derive a certain pleasure from listening to it.
