Sound And The Human Brain

Sound And The Human Brain

We humans have developed many languages over the course of our existence as societies developed in various areas of the world. These languages are nothing more than a series of noises strung together in such a manner as to communicate with another human being from our same society. Of course, if that other human being came from some other area of our little world, there was a good possibility that he wouldn't understand what was being said because the sounds were put together in a manner different than what he was used to.

We write the same way. Someone began drawing pictures on a cave wall and then along came someone else who decided that the story needed detail and used marks of a different kind to substitute for the sounds. Before long people were writing within their own groups but couldn't talk to the fellow over the next mountain who had designated different sounds for communicating and a different set of lines for his written story. Now being different was cause enough to go bash his head in and after a couple million years or so of evolution, we still don't understand the fellow over the mountain so we go over and, in a manner of speaking, bash his head in.

As our society moves forward, an occasional and exceptional person will sit down and put words together and then speak them is such a manner as to change the course of history and move people as they haven't been moved before. Over the course of about a hundred years of American history there have been maybe five or six speeches that had a profound effect on our culture.

Whether you read or hear Abe Lincoln's "Gettysburg address" or Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, the words flow in such a manner as to move you emotionally. Other cultures have had their great speeches to fire up the populace to build a city or go to war. It's part of human existence.

Great writers in the ilk of Shakespeare have put common words together in a way that they still are beautiful to read or hear over 400 years after they were written. What a gift for mankind to share in. for a brief moment in time, these people seem to transcend the ordinary and tap into a greater intelligence.

Chants, Music, and Song

We seem to be on a quest to find the ultimate sound by using chant, music, and song. A good "ommmmm" can help sooth the battered psyche of just about anyone. A guitar or piano can put you to sleep or make you get up and dance or move you to love. A beautiful song transcends language, even when you can't understand the words. There is something about the sound that soothes you.

Music affects a different part of the brain than do words. A person who stutters can sing without a hitch as the song comes from a different area. We listen to music and look for the perfect melody. Just when we think someone has come up with the ultimate sound, we suddenly grow tired of it and move on to the next artist.

Is it part of the human condition to look for the sound that will put us in eternal bliss? What is the perfect pitch? Is it one sound or many? Could the "ommmmm" sound be a clue that a single sound could hold pleasure for us? Will we ever find a sound that we won't grow tired of? Wouldn't you like to have a time machine to go back and find the first human who strung two or three sounds together in a song like manner? Wouldn't it be fun to see the look on his fellow clansmen's faces when they heard it? Did a mother trying to ease her baby's hurt invent the first song?

What's your opinion on sound? We'd like to hear from you.

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Pete Jefferson

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