The title is a reference to a line from Shakespeare, I think.
It's once again philosophy hour here at Music Zombie.
It's always interesting how music is a present in most of the important milestones of our lives. Musicians are requested for weddings, parties, funerals, celebrations, graduation ceremonies. If not live musicians, there is music in the background. Live music is always best though, and not just because it gives someone a job. Live musicians provide an immediacy and intimacy to the music they are playing. It's part of ritual too, and humans are ritual-driven (mostly).
What song is played depends on lots of things. The circumstance, the people involved, the culture it's occuring in. I read a book called "The World in Six Songs" by Daniel Levitin. According to Levitin, there are six types of songs in the world: friendship, joy, comfort, love, religion, and knowledge. We listen to music to make us feel better (if stressed or just sad), or to show someone how we feel about them (mix-tapes, remember those?) People sing hymns in church to show unification, or repeat back mnemonic songs to remember important facts (the ABC song, for example).
Music is hard-wired into our brains. Because music is a global process (meaning it uses the whole brain, not just a specific part of it) we are able to associate memories and meaning with every melody. It's also why some music can make us cry.
Haven't you ever heard a song from you childhood and have memories come back instantly?
Anyway, something to think about. :)
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