Music – The Art Form of Sound and Silence

Music is one of the most gratifying human experiences. Everyone enjoys some genre or the other. Ranging from weddings and funerals to graduation ceremonies and presidential inaugurations, music is crucial in setting the ambience of a place and is often considered a mood setter. Many renowned athletes embrace music as a part of their pre-game/match ritual. Also, let’s not forget those catchy OSTs to our favorite films.

Music is a form of art, whose medium is sound and silence. The word originates from Greek μουσική (mousike; “art of the Muses”).
Its common elements are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts of tempo, meter and articulation), dynamics and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture.
A musical instrument is a device, created or adapted to musical sounds. By principle, any object that produces sound can be a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments date back to the beginning of human culture. Early musical instruments were essential for ritualistic purposes. Cultures later developed the process of composing and performing melodies for entertainment.

The oldest object that some scholars refer to as a musical instrument, a simple flute, dates back to 67,000 years. Musical instruments developed independently in many populated regions of the world. However, contact among civilizations resulted in the rapid spread and adaptation of most instruments, in places far from their origin. By the Middle Ages, instruments from Mesopotamia could be found in Maritime Southeast Asia and Europeans were playing instruments from North Africa. Development in America, occurred at a slower pace though cultures of North, Central and South America shared musical instruments.

Currently, there are 6 main categories of musical instruments in the world and almost 300 instruments in each; excluding instruments only found locally. A great majority of musical instruments fall into one of six major categories: Bowed strings, Woodwind, Brass, Percussion, Keyboard, and Guitar, the first four of which form the basis of a modern symphony orchestra.

The guitar is one of the most common string instruments. The electric guitar is a central and linking instrument for most kinds of rock music. Though Charlie Christian, was the first person to use the amplified guitar as a solo instrument, many musicians following him, such as Aaron Thibeaux Walker, Les Paul, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, and Carlos Santana have featured and experimented with the instrument.
There are over 8,000 musical genres in the world though mainstream ones tend to explore a few. That means, if you were to start from birth and listen to one style everyday, by the time you graduated, you wouldn’t even be half-way done.

What is amazing about music is that it is embedded within us. Everyone relates to it and unites through it. Jamming with other musicians feels euphoric. Some people describe it as rowing down a river together.

There is a certain type of bond that is formed when you make music in a group. The same is true for those who listen to music in a group and interact through dance. This type of behavior is rooted in our history and discoveries as human beings.
We had countless experiences over the years where music has established unbreakable bonds. Those moments have been some of the most rewarding experiences of our lives and will continue to be the ones we cherish the most. We, at The First Chord, hope to help you in experiencing the joy of music making by imparting our collective knowledge and guiding you through your musical journey!