![[Column] How does music shape us?](/../assets/images/column-how-music-shapes-identity.webp)
Prologue: The intersection of music and self-awareness
Text: mmr｜Theme: Why does music shape people’s self-awareness?
Why do people identify with music? This question is both old and new. Melodies, rhythms, voices, and noises are physically nothing more than vibrations in the air, but we have found meaning in them, projected our emotions onto them, and sometimes entrusted our lives to them. When I listen to one song, I remember who I am, and when I listen to another song, I imagine who I want to be in the future. Throughout this cycle, music has gone beyond mere entertainment and has functioned as a framework for self-understanding.
If we look back at history, we can see that music has always existed at the boundary between the individual and society. Religious rituals imprint community values on the body, modern nations foster national consciousness, and in modern times, playlists make individuals’ inner lives visible. Music is given to us from the outside and continues to update our self-awareness while changing its meaning on the inside.
Music is one of the oldest media we have used to understand ourselves.
Birth of music and community
Ritual and the role of sound
Throughout human history, music has been inseparable from the establishment of communities. In an era when writing did not exist, knowledge and values were passed down orally, and songs and rhythms were at the center of this. The drums beat before a hunt, the dance songs celebrating the harvest, and the melodies used to mourn the dead connect individuals to a being that transcends the temporal.
These musical experiences not only conveyed information, but also created a feeling of ““belonging to the same group’’ through physical sensations. Stomping your feet to the same rhythm and vocalizing the same melody creates synchronicity that is more powerful than words. Music played a role in making the boundaries of the community visible and separating the inside from the outside.
From the beginning, music was not entertainment, but a device that supported the way of life itself.
Religious music and inner formation
Internalization of faith and sound
At a time when religion was the central norm of society, music was an important means of internalizing faith. The single melody of Gregorian chant is designed to suppress the individual”s emotions and encourage immersion in God. Buddhist chants align breathing and vocalizations, changing the practitioner”s physical sensations themselves. In Islam, when reciting the Qur’an, the melody and meaning are inseparably linked, and the act of listening itself becomes a practice of faith.
These musics function beyond personal taste. By listening to it repeatedly, singing it, and letting it seep into your body, faith becomes rooted inside as a prerequisite, rather than something to be doubted. Music was a translation device that transformed external doctrine into an internal voice.
The sound of faith created a quiet discipline within the individual.
Modernity and national identity
National anthems and popular songs
The establishment of the modern nation significantly changed the role of music. Music began to be used to connect abstract entities such as “people” rather than kings and religions. The national anthem is its symbol, providing an emotional understanding of the nation’s story through its melody and lyrics.
Singing in unison at school and public events was also a way to temporarily erase individual differences and practice acting as one subject. Popular songs and marches also reinforced national identity by simultaneously sharing the same emotions.
Music played the role of drawing national borders in our hearts.
The beginning of records and personalization
Self-image changed by regeneration technology
In the early 20th century, the spread of the phonograph and records fundamentally changed the musical experience. Until then, music was something where performers and audiences shared the same place and time, but playback technology has disrupted that premise. People will be able to listen to music alone and re-experience the same performance over and over again.
This change transformed the relationship between music and the self into a personal one. Even the same song can have different meanings depending on the listener’s life experiences and circumstances. Music became both a collective symbol and a container for personal memory.
Reproduction technology has moved music from the community to the individual.
Youth culture and music genres
Formation of generational identity
In the second half of the 20th century, musical genres became central indicators of generational identity. Jazz symbolized urbanization and modernity, and rock embodied rebellion and freedom. Punk expressed a rejection of the established order in short, sharp sounds, and hip-hop became a way to speak to marginalized experiences.
For young people, the music they chose was an act of showing which values they resonated with. Like the way we dress and the way we speak, our musical tastes are at the core of our self-expression.
Favorite music has become a business card that tells you which era you belong to.
Minorities and music
Representation of those without a voice
Music was also an important means for socially oppressed people to express themselves. The blues told personal stories of experiences of hard work and discrimination, and reggae spread political messages in rhythm. These musics provided a platform for sharing emotions that could not be expressed in mainstream language.
Music was another language for those forced into silence.
Expanding Media and Identity
From Radio to the Internet
Radio and television created a sense of contemporaneous shared musical experience. When people in far-flung locations listen to the same song at the same moment, an imaginary community is formed. The Internet has further accelerated this trend, making possible a sense of belonging that transcends geography and culture.
The media has infinitely multiplied the sources of attribution.
Self-editing in the playlist era
Listener as selection subject
In the streaming era, music has become an endless choice. Rather than passively listening to songs, people choose, rearrange, and share songs according to their moods and values. A playlist is a narrative device that ties together fragmented self-images.
Song selection has become a form of self-introduction.
Music and memory
The sound that marks the turning point of life
The connection between music and memory is strong. The place where I heard it for the first time, the smells and emotions of that time come back to me along with the melody. Music transcends time and connects the past and present.
Music becomes an anchor that holds oneself together in memory.
Globalization and the hybrid self
Mixed styles
Globalization has shaken the idea of identity rooted in a single culture. By mixing different musical elements, a self-image with multiple attributions became common. A new self-awareness is born at the intersection of tradition and innovation.
The mixed sounds affirm the multilayered self.
Music and body
Dancing and singing
Music affects the self most directly through the body. Collective movements on the dance floor and shared breathing through chorus create a sense of unity on a pre-verbal level. Bodily sensations make abstract identities real.
When the body moves, the self certainly exists.
Chronology Main changes in music and identity
Final chapter: Who does the music belong to?
Music has always been given to us by society and reinterpreted within individuals. Even if technology and systems change, music remains a mirror that reflects one’s self. What kind of sound should you choose and how should you listen to it? The accumulation of these things forms who we are.
Listening to music is also listening to yourself.
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