Music as a Communicator

We all know that communication is integral to our daily lives, without communication, it is impossible to go about doing one’s daily tasks. Communication has evolved throughout the history of mankind, from smoke signals to hieroglyphics to telegrams to telephones and then to handphones, it is apparent that we cannot live without communication.

But what separates us humans from the rest of the animal kingdom is that constant desire to improve our tools of communication. When compared to the elephants in Africa, or the penguins in the Southern Hemisphere, the way they communicate has always been the same. Perhaps, it might be because when men first learnt about communication, and how it could ultimately ease everyday life, there was a desire to further refine it. For example, when the egyptians did their hieroglyphics, they found that it was a way to communicate to more than one person.

In my opinion, the best persuasive communication tool man has created came in the form of music. Music transcends generations, race, culture, gender and practically everything else. Since the creation of music, it always communicated with a purpose and as music evolved, it even begun to shape and change a whole generation’s attitudes or beliefs. Music always had the power, the power to heal, or even persuade.

Perhaps, the most unique thing about music as a persuasive communication tool is that when we bring it into Shannon and Weave’s Mathematical Theory of Communication, there would be hardly any Noise Source in the equation. Sure, that may be the physical form of noise, the radio emitting static noise, the background of a busy cafe as it plays a song. However, if one looks beyond the physical, he will realize that the Information source, goes direct to the transmitter and channel, to the receiver and then to the destination. The amazing thing about it is that unlike the rest of the communication tool, where, the receiver tend to receive a message, music has the ability to let the receiver receive more than one perceived message. Take for example, one can look at John Mayer’s “Belief” about the state of the world out there but someone else would also digest the lyrics and understand the song with what life experiences he has been through. And because everyone’s life experience is different, different parts of the song will stand out to every individual. Perhaps, for guitarists, Mayer’s guitar skills would blow them away.

Someone once told me that what comes from the heart, will reach the heart. It is especially true for music, when a song is being sung, if the musician does it really well, if the audience’s hearts are open, then, that song can be the greatest communication tool ever produced.