Even in today’s modern world, music still plays a huge role in festivities, rituals, traditions and ceremonies -although this is something that we often don’t stop to appreciate.
For example, the Wedding March as the bride walks down the aisle; the traditional ‘First Dance’; funeral songs- which are now a ‘thing’ – (My Way by Frank Sinatra being one of the best according to SunLife) are all examples of how we incorporate emotion and meaning into these ceremonies.
Yet this isn’t new. Music has long been intrinsically linked with ceremonies across the world for the purposes of everyday life: celebration, interaction, playing out past events, as a form of communication and even as a symbol of mourning.
We came across an interesting Ted Talk on ted.com by Michael Tilson Thomas, a conductor, musician and music educator who talks about how this ‘music of everyday life’ is distilled down to its very essence by classical music.
Thomas discusses the ‘trends’ of classical music over the years and how it became in his words, “a dialogue between intelligence and intellect”. This Ted Talk provides a passionate and fascinating insight into the changes and history of classical music over the decades and explores some of the music, played by Thomas himself during the talk, that conveys these powerful emotions.
Like classical music? Listen to Ruark Audios’ Recommended Classical Playlist on Spotify.
