Music: love, hate, and life. Since the beginning of time, we have used anything and everything we could to make music. Since before instruments were invented, we used our bodies to make up rhythms. Even before the first instrument, the flute, originated 60,000 years ago we have always been surrounded by a momentous fascination with the importance of music.
Love: As the tale goes, in 530 BC, there was a man named Orpheus who was a talented musician (his music moved the living and the dead), and a beautiful woman named Eurydice who was his wife. In the story, Eurydice was a nymph, and Orpheus was the son of Muse Calliope. Orpheus and Eurydice fell in love and got married in a well-celebrated ceremony. Soon after their marriage, a shepherd named Aristaeus saw Eurydice and was immediately attracted to her beauty. He tried to pursue her without her permission, causing her to run into the woods trying to get away from him. She unfortunately fell into a den and was bitten on the ankle by a snake. When Orpheus found out she had passed, he fell into a deep melancholia and refused to see a life without his beloved in it. He made the decision that he would descend to the underworld, armed with only his lyre, to get her back. On his journey, he faced four challenges. His first was Charon, the ferryman who demanded payment for his passage across the Styx river; he faced the challenge by giving the spirit a coin. His next challenge he faced was Cerberus, the three-headed dog. He faced this challenge by playing his lyre, putting Cerberus to sleep. His last two challengers were Hades and his wife, Persephone. When Orpheus finally made it to their throne and explained his situation to the king and queen of the Underworld, they felt so remorseful about what had happened to the couple. They told Orpheus that Eurydice would be spared if he led her out of the underworld without turning to look at his wife once. He agreed, and their return to our world had begun. When the two neared the end, anxiety and doubt filled Orpheus, causing him to turn back to Eurydice without thinking. As soon as he turned, Eurydice was pulled back into the underworld, leaving Orpheus by himself. He was then left to forever mourn the death of his one and only love, Eurydice. The tale shows the importance and collision of music and love, and how it affected their relationship. If Orpheus weren’t a musician, he wouldn’t have been able to even try and save Eurydice. Evidence of love and music isn’t just found in Greek mythology; it’s also found in many modern examples. Tons of musicians in the 21st century capitalize their songs on the emotion of love. For example, ‘Love Story’ by Taylor Swift captures the idea of young love and the challenges that come with it, and what you would do to keep love. Delaney Nottingham, a 9th-grade student at Dover High, stated the following: “I think that love and music are connected and are part of everyone’s daily lives. Music is part of everyone, and so is love. There is music about love and love for music. They are very much intertwined.”
While the other side of love is hate, hate has fueled music throughout history: through musicals, songs, and more. An example of a musical that follows the idea of hate is ‘West Side Story,’ which follows the story of Maria and Tony. Tony is a boy who helped start a gang called the Jets with his best friend, Riff. Maria is a girl who happens to be the sister of the leader of the Sharks. The Jets are a gang of white teenagers, while the Sharks are a gang of Hispanic teenagers. The musical follows the hatred and racism between the two gangs. This led to the death of multiple gang members because of their hatred. An example of music that talks about hate is ‘Killing in the Name Of’ written by the band ‘Rage Against the Machine’. It speaks on the fact that authorities abuse their power and their constitutional racism, focusing on law enforcement. It protests these subjects and emphasizes the need for people to protest against the oppressive system of law. Another example is the song ‘Creep’ by Radiohead. It follows themes of self-hatred and feeling like an outsider compared to everyone else. Maycie Hickman, also a 9th-grade student at Dover High School, stated, “…a lot of people express their emotions through music.” And that if she had to drown out hate through music, she would “…use a major key to make the song upbeat to cancel out the hate.”
Life: Throughout history, music has always been a factor that surrounded us. Music has changed over time, like most things, but it has never gone away. People don’t realize how important music is, and how it’s always with us every day. For example, the hum of a fan in your house is a form of music; even though you may not notice it, it’s always there. Music is also culturally important; it was a way for people to spread messages and tell stories. For example, during the time of slavery in America, we prohibited them from speaking in their native language and forced them to learn English. We did this because we didn’t want them to start talking and share ways on how to escape. So instead of speaking, they sang in their native language. Now, because they weren’t speaking, their masters thought they were imbeciles and were simply singing gibberish, when they were actually communicating escape plans. If they didn’t learn their native language, they were taught how to use the Underground Railroad language. Also, slaves would communicate with music that had no words and was just beats. They could make a beat, for example, by tapping the floor in a pattern or rhythm that the other slaves would understand. Another example is Ring Around the Rosie, which is a reference to the Bubonic plague. ‘Ring Around the Rosie’ refers to the rash you would get with the plague, ‘pockets full of posies’ references the flowers used to cover the smell of death, ‘ashes, ashes’, refers to how we disposed of the dead infected bodies (burning them), and finally ‘we all fall down’ symbolizes death. Violet Ritenour, a 9th-grade student at Dover High School, stated, “… music has always been around us from the dawn of time till now. People have created music… music is important in our lives because it determines our moods and overall attitudes.” She also stated that if she could only communicate through a form of music, she would choose lyrical, saying “I would want to voice how I truly feel.”
Also, Violet Wagner, another 9th-grade student at Dover High School, stated, “ …people have always been able to make some kind of music even if it’s just hitting some surface… music is very important to people’s lives because some people can’t go days without it.”
Music is immortal. Music has always been used to express love, hate, rebellion, oppression, abuse, and so much more. It has affected people in so many different ways and affected all of our emotions. If music did not exist, life would be dull, and many people would lose their way of expression. We continue to be amused by music and will continue to be. Therefore, it has affected us since day one and will until the end of time as we know it.
