Is music a language?

Is music a language? Find out why the real answer is yes! and no. And maybe. And you're sort of framing the question wrong.

#linguistics #languagenerd #music #thelanguageofmusic #polyglot

[erikbreathes]

1:30 "in the sense you probably mean: no, but also, strictly speaking: yes, in the least helpful and most complicated of technically correct ways" is a sentence i will actively be seeking out opportunities to say in a conversation thank you doctor language

[jamessidebotham]

dude the linguist jazz musician combo is so dope

[blobberberry]

Getting my doctorate in mathematics - everyone tells me they "hate math" when they really mostly mean they hated math class. Which I understand.

[yuvalne]

people think music is a universal language for the same reason they think features of Indo-European are universal. they aren't aware of just how weird things can get out there.

[deanwoodward]

35 years in IT, on the technical side. I when people explain computers to me.

[ToastbackWhale]

I'm both a person who stutters, and have my Masters in Speech-Language Pathology. The shit I hear about stuttering to this day is mind boggling 😵

[Sam_on_YouTube]

I'm among the world's leading experts on the Convention clause of Article V of the US Constitution. People often tell me that it can rewrite the constitution. It cannot. It allows states to come together to propose an amendment on whatever limited subject the states agree upon, which must then be ratified by the same process as an amendment proposed by Congress.

Recently, at a hearing in New Hampshire, a member of the John Birch Society (yes, they still exist) claimed there were no experts on Article V. When it was my turn to speak I said that I had heard many things, but I had never been told I don't exist before.

[josephdonaghy]

I teach world and Hawaiian music and ethnomusicology at UH Maui. When I first started, about half of the papers I received began with "Music is a universal language" or contained it somewhere in the paper. Now, before they even get to that point, I use a lot of these points - many of them from Susanne Langer's work. I appreciate the nuances you've added here in that it is not so black and white. It can't be clearly argued either way for all languages and all forms of music. Bravo. This video is now linked in my classes 😉

[babujai]

Not an expert, but I am a domestic violence survivor and I did a fair bit of therapy after escaping my last abusive relationship. People that have zero experience or exposure to either domestic violence or therapy love to tell me why I stayed as long as I did or how perfectly irrational it was that I did. Either way, they're never right, and generally refuse to consider that I might understand the situation better than they do.

[SarahHirschkowitz]

I’ve been studying flags for a few years now and I love it when people tell me how awesome the American flag is and how it is the best flag. 1. Best flag is subjective.. 2. Arguably, the American flag is one of the worst because it’s so difficult for kids to draw (yes this is a flag rule) and the colors mesh together at a distance.

[vytah]

I think what (some) people mean when saying "music is a universal language" is that if one person expresses something musically, then another person will always be able to figure at least the vibes of what the first person wanted to convey. Which from what I've heard is not true, as a lot of this feel for music is culturally transmitted, so different cultures will interpret the same piece completely differently.

[ThePhilologicalBell]

I'm an expert on medieval literature (specifically early medieval Germanic literatures), and did my BA in archaeology. People often say the "Strong men create good times" meme at me - presenting it as a serious* historical argument - no matter what objections I raise.

*this is often argued as basically Schrodinger's meme: if they're challenged about it and feel they can't offer a plausible defence, it's just a joke bro; if they're not challenge it gets invoked as a sincere historical analysis with no trace of humour.

[ToNowHereShow]

I am not an expert in any mental illness but my own. I have severe maniac episodes that can become psychosis with vivid visual and audio hallucinations (and associated distorted thinking) requiring inpatient psychiatric treatment to stabilize. Over 40 years I have had numerous hospitalizations while being more-or-less productive 80% of my life. I get told a lot about severe mental illness and what my experience is like. It can be WebMD experts or Boomers who took LSD once. I am glad to talk it about because most of my life I hid my illness just to maintain employment. Social Security determined I am fully disabled years ago so now I am extremely open about my condition and surrounding struggles to raise awareness especially around voting season. People are mostly wrong about my internal experiences. Mostly.

[mastoner]

Master plumber with an expertise and over a decade in water treatment. People love to tell me how much better bottled water (Spring water) is over tap water. And I can only hold back a giggle and must resist the urge to tell them it's literally just dechlorinated town tap water for the majority of bottled water. Or a runner up is "just how awful Dasani is" when, as a general statement for most national brands, it's actually technically one of the best and most pure you can purchase on the market in America without getting into Distilled Water territory.

(Also hi algorithm gods.)

[margedtrumper]

I'm a singer trained in Indian classical music and traditional art music in India is exactly taught like a native language. You are not taught rules but you have to repeat patterns, a teacher will tell you how to perfect it through example. You are taught by ear and orally and you are encouraged to make your own phrases based on that. There is a sort of grammar and syntax and you will imbibe it that way. You are not supposed to perform 'by heart' or reading, you have to make your own music... the output should be as natural as possible.

[sasha-taylor]

as a jazz musician, I (also a jazz musician) thought you'd go deeper into the improvisational side of music. It's made up on the spot, but follows a set of rules one could compare to a grammar, and is often conversational with the other musicians of the band itself. Maybe you're holding off on that for its own separate video? love your content man! you're helping me keep going on my language-learning journey

[thothrax]

I'm a chesemonger. It's my job to research, buy, study, sell, educate on, and probably more than anything else: taste cheese. Working in an industry that is so niche, and yet whose product is so ubiquitous, I've heard millions of opinions on cheese from people who walk through the front door of the shop I work in.

Probably my favorite is "I don't like sheep cheese" To which my internal monologue is "Oh really? Or have you tried goat cheese, didn't like it, and then assumed that because goats and sheep kinda look similar their cheeses are the same? When in reality they are polar opposites." Every single time I've ever confronted someone on this and had them actually try a sheep milk cheese, I've been right.

[atrumluminarium]

For musical languages, I think Yoruba takes the cake. It can be both whistled and drummed. Their traditional instrument is infact called the talking drum. Given how the drum works, I have a suspicion that it can very be easily be spoken through slap bass in a similar manner.

[catalystcomet]

You have a very unique and kind of calming way of speaking. I feel like I've heard it somewhere before but I want to say it also feels unique amongst everything here. It's a much more relaxed almost kind of a cool- the jazz makes sense. Honestly I was looking for a decent etymology channel, but I'm happy to be here. This comment is pretty much for the algorithm gods.

[jjdevoe]

I have a degree in vocal performance. People always say “I can’t sing” or “some people just can’t sing”. And, Not. True. (except in the least helpful and most inane of technically correct ways). If you can hear the difference between a high pitch and a low pitch, and you are able to sustain a high pitch and a low pitch, you CAN learn to sing. Beautifully. It just takes time and an environment you are willing to practice in. Unfortunately lots of us live surrounded by people who like to tear us down. Even in my first semester of my voice degree, I had two girlfriends in a row that would stop me any time I started singing because I couldn’t “sing in tune” (I hate it when people say that it is almost always a very different problem than when an instrument like a piano is out of tune). Now, only five years later, I regularly get paid $60 an hour to sing. People who say you shouldn’t sing are wrong. And they should learn a lot more about how their voice works before they go telling people that they can’t do something our bodies are specially evolved to do.