Music can be best understood as a multidimensional language. Just like any language, its primary function is to convey meaning. Musical meaning emerges from the relationships between pitch, points in time (rhythm), and larger patterns within a work of music. When we represent these relationships in numbers, we find that they appear across all kinds of fields such as science, architecture, and visual arts. These relationships carry inherent meanings, or archetypes.

 

Music has a unique power to affect us because sound, by nature, is vibration. Thus, the fundamental relationships between pitch and rhythm and the meanings they convey are not only observed, but felt. Music replicates the relationships of the world around us in a way that bypasses spoken language.

 

Many of these relationships are hard to define directly, and are learned intuitively. Those we consider to be fluent in music have an implicit understanding of these meanings, and although they may not be able to translate them into words, they know how to use them skillfully. Beyond the intrinsic meanings which stem from our shared natural and human experiences, music's meaning is also largely subjective, filtered through the unique perspective and life experiences of the listener. Because of this, all music will be interpreted and experienced by each person differently.

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Over time certain musical frameworks have emerged as uniquely compelling. Similar to the role of the Hero's Journey myth in literature, these structures carry deep archetypal meanings. We often perceive works which align with these forms as especially powerful.