Humans have been around for a very long time, and so far, there has never been a society or culture discovered that did not use music in some way. One of the oldest and most common way ways music has been used over the millennia, and is still used today, is as a form of communications.

Signal Drums

For centuries people in Africa, New Guinea, and the tropical regions of the Americas have used drums to communicate with each other across great distances. As a matter of fact, when European explorers came into the jungles to explore the local forest, they were shocked to find that word of their arrival and intentions were carried through the woods ahead of their advance. With this early form of long distance communication, messages could be transmitted at about 160 kilometers an hour, virtually instantly at the time.

Among the most famous of the ancient drums used for communication are the West African talking drums. Originally developed in the regions known today as Nigeria and Ghana, they spread throughout West Africa and to the Americas and the Caribbean during the slave trade. The use of these drums was eventually banned because the slaves were using them to communicate over long distances in codes the slavers didn’t understand.

The traditional drumming that originated in Africa was actually developed using three different concepts. First, a rhythm can represent an idea or a signal. Secondly, the message can be repeated. Lastly, it can just be music, and obey musical rules.

Drum communications have never been an actual language on their own, rather, they’re based on actual languages. The sounds made are meant to represent speech patters, and the messages themselves are context-dependent. They can’t be used to form new combinations or expressions. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of potential for misinterpretation with this form of communication, thanks to the highly subjective and ambiguous nature of the sounds.

Modern Messages

In today’s world, it’s fair to say that music is still used to communicate messages, though these messages might be a little different than the simple communication used in the distant past. An example of the most easily recognizable messages conveyed by much of today’s music might be political music, or the “protest song.” This particular shade of folk music has been around since at least the early part of the 18th century, and there has been a form of protest song for every single major social or political movement in western history since. Sociologist R. Serge Denisoff went so far as to define the five primary goals of any good protest song:

• To point out some problem in society, usually expressed in emotional terms.
• To present a solution to that problem in terms of action and a goal.
• To reinforce the values of those involved in the movement.
• To attempt to recruit individuals by creating sympathy and support.
• To create moral unity and uniqueness in its worldview.

Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are-a Changin’” (1964) and Green Day’s “Holiday” (2004) are both excellent examples of the protest song, and also helps to illustrate that using music to communicate modern messages won’t be going anywhere any time soon.

Music & Emotions

Possibly the most well known thing music is used to communicate is simply basic human emotion. Our ability to perceive emotion in music is thought to develop very early in childhood, improving throughout life. We use these skills to read emotion in the structure of any piece of music. Tempo is usually considered the most important structural aspect of emotion in music, but other factors, like mode, volume, and melody can also influence the emotion we read into music.

• Tempo refers to the speed or pace of music. Fast tempos are usually associated with happiness, excitement, and anger, while a slow tempo usually conveys sadness or serenity.
• Mode refers to the type of scale with a major mode communicating happiness and joy, while a minor mode communicates sadness.
• Loudness or volume can convey intensity and power of an emotion, as well as anger.
• A musical piece’s melody can also communicate emotions. Complimenting harmonies show happiness, relaxation and serenity, and clashing harmonies communicate excitement, anger, or unpleasantness.
• Lastly, music’s rhythm can also communicate a number of emotions. A smooth and consistent rhythm is associated with happiness and peace, and rough or irregular rhythms speak of amusement or uneasiness. Lastly, music with varied rhythms convey a feeling of joy.

Other features of music can also influence the emotions conveyed. Performance features include the performers’ skill and performer’s state. Each of these factors can influence how the audience perceives the emotion of music. A performer’s skills not only include their ability to play music, but also their appearance, which includes their physical appearance, but also their reputation. A performer’s “state” is their personalized interpretation of the music, their motivation for performing it, and the musician’s stage presence.

The listeners themselves can also influence how they perceive music. Listeners use their own individual and social identity to interpret what they hear. These include features like their personality, age, their personal knowledge of music, and what motivated them to listen in the first place.

Lastly, context can change the way emotion is communicated through music. Certain aspects of a performance, particularly it’s setting, can have a huge impact on the emotional quality. The same song performed at a wedding and a funeral will have vastly different meanings and emotions for the listeners.

All of these different factors play a role in expressing and interpreting emotion through music. Each factor influences musical emotion in different ways, and at different magnitudes. Their effects are even compounded by one another. This means that the emotions being communicated are felt stronger if there are more factors to influence listeners.

Music has been used to communicate in a variety of different ways all across human history and culture. It’s one of our oldest and most universal forms of communication, thanks in part to the fact that we all feel the same emotions and can identify them in music from other cultures. Music breaks down cultural differences, and communicates in a way that we can all understand.