Introduction:
Music has been called the language of emotions. This is not an unreasonable metaphor, for music, like language, aims to communicate meaning. Like language too, it possesses grammar, syntax and rhetoric. But it is a different kind of language.
In music, words are concrete, tone is fluid and intangible. A word taking by itself has a fixed meaning; while a tone assumes meaning only from its association with other tones. Words convey specific ideas; music suggests elusive states of mind. Because of this elusiveness music has been subject to a constant attempt to translate its message into words.
Hence, music is life and life is music. No life is complete without music.
There is music for all endeavors of man in all ramifications. No society or ethnic group can do without music. Below are some uses of music in our society:-
1. FESTIVALS: - Music is used during festivals like New Year festival, Ofala festival, Argungu, fighting festival,
Festivals of the arts and culture etc.
2. CEREMONIES: - We use music in ceremonies like marriage, house warming, birthday celebration, burial, wedding ceremony, graduation, coronation to mention a few.
3. PLEASURE AND RECREATION: People like listening to music as recreational activities like concerts, listening to CDs (audio/visual), radio, tapes, television and records.
4. SPORTS: Music is used in sporting events like wrestling, football matches, e g fans playing music to motivate their players and celebration for goals scored.
5. EXERCISES: Music is for exercises like calisthenics and also for military parade.
6. EXPRESSING HUMAN EXPERIENCES: Music is used in expressing human experiences e g. feelings of joy, grief or sorrow, love and hate, amusement and reverence.
7. RELIGIOUS WORSHIP: Music is used for worship in churches, temples, mosques and in schools.
8. TEACHING AND LEARNING: We use music in teaching pupils in schools. It is part of children's play. It helps pupils to memorize names of things like continents of the world, English alphabets, months and dates in the year etc.
9. FOR HEALING: Music is used for healing therapy. Music is for curing certain types of illness like mental disorder. A good Biblical example was when David played and the evil spirit in King Saul disappeared. Music heals illness and ailment gradually.
10. LULLABY: Music is used to send babies to sleep.
11. ADVERTISEMENT: Music is used for advertisement in the television and radio.
12. COMMUNICATION: Music is used for communication. Messages are passed through music. Example: In the palaces, music is played to give information to the king, most especially in Yoruba land. That is why importance is attached to talking drums. Music also gives information about the past and the present.
IMPACT OF MUSIC ON HUMAN LIFE
The impact music has on human life cannot be over emphasized. Music has a great influence on man. The type of music you listen to is capable of molding your life or mar it. Music is a very powerful tool in making man. That is why some people have a particular musician as their mentor. They pattern their lives after such musicians. Some see certain musicians as their hero or idol.
FUNCTIONS OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
WHAT IS SOUND?
Music is a sound. Sound is what we can hear. Musical sound is produced by vibrations set in motion by the human voice and or other sound producing instruments e g. singing, plucking of violin, beating a drum, blowing of flute or whistle in definite patterns. Vibration is rubbing together of two bodies. Music is defined as organized sounds or arrangement of sounds that are pleasing to
the ear.
There are two types of sound
Organized sound
Un-organized sound.
Music is an organized sound when it pleases the ear. Un-organized sound is noise and noise displeases the ear. It is characterized by its indefinite, irregular and unequal sound.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Functions:
Musical instruments are used to accompany song or performance. They are used for rituals, coronation, initiation, into adulthood rites in some ethnic groups. The functions of musical instruments differ from one ethnic group to the other. For example, in Yoruba land we have talking drum (hour glass). This talking drum is used for communication anytime it is bitten.
In some ethnic group some musical instruments are played once in a year, some are attached to one festival, idol or the other.
MAKING OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Local musical instrument is also called indigenous African or homemade instruments. These instruments differ from one ethnic group to another.
Whichever musical instrument that is peculiar to a group, what we must understand is that locally made instruments belongs to four families: -
1. Idiophones family
2. Membranophones family
3. Chordophones family
4. Aerophones family.
These musical instruments are grouped according to how they are made and how sound is being produced from them.
1. Idiophones family
These are self-sounding musical instruments. They produce sound by the vibration of their body when struck. They are likened to the percussion instruments of the western world. Examples include gong, rattle, ekwe, clappers, udu, handshakes, hand or thumb piano.
The main function of these musical instruments is to provide the rhythmic variations of the music. Various cross-rhythms of African music are produced by these locally made instruments.
a. Gongs: - Gongs are made of metal. There are different types of gong e g. single-gong, twin-gong etc. Gongs are something named or described by their sizes. In Igbo land (Eastern Nigeria) small gongs are usually called 'ogene' while the big gongs are called 'alo'. While
'ogene' can be single or double, 'alo' are usually single. Although gongs do have melodic properties, their function in music is mainly rhythmic. Gongs (small or big) are also used to communicate information.
This is a function outside a music context. In dance music, the big gong (alo) is used to communicate to the dancers changes in the dance sequence; meaning that the two tones (low and high) produced by the big gong need to be learnt and understood by dancers.
Gong is called 'agogo' among the Yoruba just as each culture has its own name for this instrument. It also features in shrines and some religious venues as instrument of music or as a communication gadget announcing the commencement of worship or supplication before the gods.
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