By Ruiming Zhang
In human life, music plays a role in healing the soul. Music, as an art and a social ideology, reflects human social life, human thoughts, and feelings. Through the perfect combination of rhythm, melody, harmony, and timbre, it will infect the audience. People often said that music can cultivate feelings and purify the soul, which is inseparable from the characteristics of music and people’s psychological perception of music. People’s perception, understanding, and appreciation of music are completed through a series of psychological activities, and the social function of music is mainly exerted through the psychological activities of the audiences in a subtle way. Music and emotions have a certain relationship, music affects emotions, and it is certain.
I used to be a person who was never used to listening to music, and I didn’t even have an app for listening to music on my phone. However, this is kind of person like me was redeemed and empowered by music when I was suffering from bipolar disorder, and now I am in love with music.
What impressed me most was the first written engagement Musicking. Just like the article said: “Music is not a thing at all but an activity, something that people do. “I realized for the first time that I can understand music this way. I have always had a hard time describing the feelings that music brings to me, and this sentence explains my thoughts very well. Music should not be materialized but as a verb. I think every singer will change their pitch and speed when they sing because of their different understandings. No two people in the world can sing exactly the same song. As an audience, we also have different feelings about the same song because of the different experiences and moods of each person. And through the study of CAT124, I increasingly believe that music contains not only melody, but also mood, meaning, and memories…
Music plays an irreplaceable role in the cultivation and purification of people’s souls, and it has a subtle effect. An article mentioned music therapy and said: listen to cheerful music when you are sad. When I was depressed, music helped me a lot. The cheerful music took me out of the heavy mood, and the gentle melody calmed me down.
Music knows no national borders. The emotions expressed by music are easier to understand than language. The influence of music on the human soul is interlinked. Even if we do not understand the lyrics, we can still feel the emotions contained in the music through the melody.
In the Songs by Heart Session on July 15, even though I could not understand all the lyrics, I could feel the atmosphere of the scene. When singing a song with a soothing melody, the audience’s body shakes gently with the melody. When singing the cheerful “Do-Re-Mi”, the audience clapped their hands in the rhythm, and my mood was also delightful. We come from different countries, speak different languages, but experience the same emotions because of music.
I think Music is a healing of the soul, a right that everyone can enjoy. It is what we want to express – hope and touch in our life. It is the salvation that can keep you going even if you are in pain and sorrow. Music always brings me courage. I used to never dare to sing in public because I was afraid of being ridiculed for being out of tune. But even though the performances of our classmates were not very perfect, they were confident and sang their own songs loudly. At that time, I only felt admiration and would not laugh at them, because they did things that I hadn’t tried. It was also from this class that I overcame my psychological fear and finished my first singing performance.
Music is also a bridge between people. My interviewee & friend Oliver and I have known each other for two years, but I discovered that we never discussed our childhood deeply. It was the first time for him and me to introduce to each other the memories of lullabies that we have hidden deep in our memory. He believes that singing a lullaby is a kind of cultural heritage and responsibility. These unique insights are something I have never had before, this project opportunity allowing us to exchange ideas. On the other hand, I think listening to or singing together is a way to quickly shorten the distance between people. After the whole class did singing training and listened to the group singing, I felt that we were closer to each other. Because we are in the same mood.
This course gave me singing skills, friendly classmates and teachers, and a deeper understanding of music. In the world of music, we are all expressers, we can all vent our pain and enjoy the joy. We understand each other, it is the resonance of the soul.
