Essay on The Importance of Music

The value of music on a man's emotional life has been generally recognised. Its essence being the harmonious production of melodious sound. The primitive or the unsophisticated man, after the day's toils and troubles, found ease and relaxed in music and dance: rhythm itself is a great tranquilizer. At the other end of the scale of civilization, lie great thinkers and scientists who refresh their tired brain by music. Shakespeare goes so far as to say that —

The man who has no music in himself.

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons, siratagems and spoils:

Thus, music has the undoubted power of composing emotional disturbance and restoring the mind to tranquility.

Hence, the value of music in an educational system has been generally recognised in the West where boys and girls are given a basic training in the rudiments of music at the school stage.

Thus, they fit into a social scheme where dance and music have an important place. In ancient India, also students had to learn to chant the Vedic Hymns. Specialised training could then be imparted to those who exhibited notable aptitude or bias in this direction. Usually in our country, such training was received privately from ustads or maestros in the art.

In Europe there are colleges like the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London to impart the necessary training and to hold examination.

No one recognised the value of music in education more than Rabindranath Tagore. At Visva Bharati, he made Faculty of Music to make music an integral part of education. Recently Music has been made a distinct discipline or faculty of studies in almost all universities in India. Musical Academies have also been established by the States and Union Govt.

Music has a religions origin everywhere. So there is something in music that exalts and ennobles our heart and keeps under control the baser propensities or tendencies. Children have a natural taste for music and it is certainly desirable to introduce music as a compulsory subject of study in the lower stages of our school, to foster and encourage the cultivation of music from the earliest years. It will have a salutary effect on the entire scholastic life of our students. It will bring joy in an atmosphere heavy with pressing academic routine.

The study and cultivation of music will certainly enliven the daily life of the average man with a much-needed spirit of joy. Often labours engaged in hard work, sing a choric song to relieve the strain on muscles. Martial songs have their part to play in winning battles. So music should be made a part of life. Study of music also will train our taste and our ears, so that in course of time we will be accepting nothing that is not of high excellence. Therefore, the sooner music is incorporated as compulsory subject of study; the better it will be for our national culture.