User:Richardjensen4/sandbox

The Higher Side of Humanity: Music and Art

Music and art are basic human functions that showcase a burning desire to create. Music has audio appeal, painting pictures in the mind of the listener, enriching with new experiences.

The arts encompass a wide range of creations, from visual arts such as photography and its new technological cousins, painting, etc., the literary arts of books, poetry, theatre and dance.

The two form a circle: poetry inspires music making, which inspires dance. They have been part of the human experience since the beginnings of Time. Artistic objects have been excavated from the remains of all ancient civilizations. And making music, even just beating a tattoo with two stones is an instinctive action that denotes its antiquity.

Music and art play a medical role too. They have psychological and physiological impact on patients, particularly in reducing stress and depression. In fact, some Indian ragas are particularly useful in certain ailments such as high blood pressure, insomnia, etc. Patients have benefited tremendously from music engagement, from visual arts therapies, expressive writing and movement based creative expression in overcoming various psychosocial ailments.

One is born with a creative gene that cannot be acquired. Those talents need to be nurtured consciously. A person born with an unmusical voice will never make that musical, although he or she may acquire a taste for music by listening to the best available; may be even humming along or swaying to the music. Those born with artistic traits will evolve in any format; a busy housewife with express her creativity in her cooking, the clothes she makes, even the way she decorates her home... that too is an art.

Unfortunately, music and the arts are horizontally divided into two segments, the classical and the folk. The classical arts, in every culture are those that were created by the Masters, following the rules of classicism in arts.

Folk art springs from the people, those who are the Salt of the Earth, the farmer, the weaver, the tradesman and what not - speaking about the truth that permeates through the good, the bad and the ugly of their existences.

Classical art has come to mean rich people and folk art for the rest. That is a terrible dichotomy. Everyone benefits from the inherent joyousness of a folk creation. Every poor child should hear classical music - and if it grips him or her, be able to learn it and take it further.