Music is an art form that weaves together rhythm, melody and harmony to evoke emotions and tell stories. It can be a form of entertainment, a way to connect to people across cultures and through time, and it can be a tool for healing. It can be serious or fun, loud or quiet. It can be played on a piano or a trumpet or by a computer program.
Music has been used as a means of communication since prehistory. In some cultures, it is a key part of ritual and ceremony and it has been used to mark special events and occasions. It is also often seen as a way to communicate ideas and emotions, for example in political causes, such as the use of music during protests.
Some of the oldest known musical instruments are flutes and lyres, which date back 42,000 years. Music is often a form of recreation, and there are many different kinds of recreational music, including folk songs, dances and games. It can be a way to relieve boredom, or to express feelings such as anger or love.
There is also a long history of music being used as a way to heal, both physically and emotionally. Indigenous tribes used music to cure illness and pain, and in Europe during the renaissance, it was thought that if music touched the soul, it could cure the body as well. Today, music therapy is a growing clinical field that uses sound to treat conditions such as anxiety, depression and physical pain.
A lot of the work that musicologists do is focused on understanding what makes music, but the definition of music itself remains a matter for debate. Some scholars argue that music is anything that is organised sound, while others take a more narrow approach, saying that only those sounds that are arranged according to a set of established practices and cultural standards based around rhythm, melody and harmony can be considered as music.
Another area of debate is the nature of music and its relation to other arts and human activities. For instance, some scholars believe that music is a natural extension of language and that it evolved to serve a specific function, like mating calls in animals. Others, however, argue that there is something unique about music that cannot be captured by language or other forms of artistic expression.
The study of music is sometimes called musicology, although it is more generally associated with the academic disciplines of sociology, media studies or music theory. In some schools, it is taught alongside subjects such as physics, biology and mathematics. It is widely believed that learning music helps with a child’s general education, as it improves concentration, listening and cooperation. Music is also often integrated into the curriculum of religious and secular schools, with children learning to play recorders and sing in choirs. In the modern world, many universities offer degrees in Western classical music, but more and more are introducing courses on the music of other cultures.