Opinion: Still Important Music and Learned Sound - imprint of thought and sign system
Before continuing this discussion further, I want to focus first on the notion of music. From what I've heard since ten years ago, there are so many definitions of music: the medium of human expression, something beautiful and harmonious, the antidote and the broken heart, the soundtrack of one's life, etc. There are more extreme: music is one's religion, the music is thousands of words strung together in a lovable frame of sound, etc. All of these notions are not wrong and legitimate. Some even say that the music does not need to be defined and that too for me is fine.
I think music is an entity that represents the trajectory of human thought, as much as the book, with its syntax of difference. If referring to musical understanding according to Guerino Mazzola in The Topos of Music; Geometric Logic of Concepts, Theory, and Performance, music is a sign system composed of complex forms that can be represented in sounds, and, in this case, connecting mental and mental content. I find a link between them that music is a sign system in which there is a knowledge entity in which we can discover and describe what is implied in the sign system.
Music, sounds, semiotics, and the subconscious
From the above definition, the sign system is what keeps the knowledge and information stored in it into something that works in the subconscious. In terms of morphology, music and sound have various dimensions: time, space, titi barrel, amplitude, color of sound, and gesture. These dimensions form the 'architecture' sound. In short, this architecture is then translated by the brain as a sign system that is more complicated than the language used by humans to communicate because of its syntax differences. On the other hand, human beings have certain patterns - formed early on - which then form a precursor in the system of thought, or in everyday language is the taste.
Uniquely, no matter how tastes affect us in determining the list of songs, musical forms and any sounds we catch will form a subconscious mindset. That is why taste can be formed. No matter how much we hate dangdut, its irresistible sounding architecture is able to shake our bodies from microscopic levels to 'drill' levels. No matter how much we do not like improvised music, such as free jazz and noise, the irresistible sound architecture is able to open the other perspective of thought subconsciously.
No matter how indifferent we are to street noise, inevitably the sound has influenced people to 'shout loudly to make it look right'. Indonesian human beings, although powerful in their ability to listen to street sounds of over 90 dB for more than two hours, will not be able to deny the subconscious influences brought by the no-no-on-the-sound sound. Not to mention if the ability to hear it has been degraded first unknowingly because hearing the noise constantly.
Music and interdisciplinary
If music is a sign system that can be represented in sound, then another medium can be a representation of the sign system. If this sign system is manifested into the dance medium, then it becomes a dance; if embodied into the visual medium, then he becomes a video or painting. What does it mean? The medium of embodiment of a certain sign system has a gesture-whether it moves (as in the performing arts) as well as the imprinted (as in poetry and painting) -as a liaison. The gesture correlation between these mediums allows interdisciplinary cooperation.
Music is the result of interdisciplinary marriages if drawn further in the time before Christ. If Phytagoras did not find the string tagging system to some extent, there probably would not have been a guitar the guy used for his girlfriend. If Joseph Fourier does not find a theory that embodies a formula that represents spectra and signals, Awkarin may not be able to use the auto-tune and phase vocoder technology and there may not be any solid discs (CDs) to store music. If Muhammad ibn Mūsá ibn Shākir does not find any automatic musical instrument, it is unlikely that the MIDI and Yamaha control systems may not be as famous now. Music, according to Mazzola, works thanks to mathematics, physics, semiotics, and psychology.
Traditional and contemporary music
Traces of thought and a rich sign system have been stored in traditional music throughout Indonesia, such as karawitan, saluang jo dendang, calung banyumasan, and many more. We need to preserve this wealth so that the knowledge contained in it can be explored throughout the ages.
It will be great if the preservation of traditional music is balanced with our attention and support for contemporary music. Contemporary does not mean a genre of music but means "current" or "at the time". Traditional music is contemporary music of his day which then represents the thinking of his day. Contemporary music, by doing so, can produce knowledge products that can also represent current thinking. It is worth noting also that what has become connected to what is happening in the past as well as the present so that the development of music and anything at this time is happening thanks to the 'gesture' that determines our action against the knowledge of the past and the present.
Potential music
With the nature that stores knowledge, music sometimes does not always sound 'beautiful' because music is not always meant to be beautiful. However, music is often magical; music can lead to a massive campaign period, music can be a bridge to understanding science and math (and vice versa), and even music can be a medium of interaction for people with Alzheimer's where their highest remaining mental ability can interact with sound. Furthermore, sound studies can be one of the solutions in spatial layout, buildings, arenas, and cities.
Music is able to bring South Korea and Japan into a country known in the world, and other fields such as technology and economics, can be lifted together. Music can be an identity; blues and jazz born to blacks in the United States became one of the United States' national identity, not limited to blacks, but all layers of the nation made it a common identity; dangdut pantura managed to create an identity for the north coast of Java and its surroundings and created a sound formula so that the truck drivers are able to dispel drowsiness.
Even if we do not believe in the things mentioned above, music is affecting us subconsciously in any dimension.
Epilogue
Still important is music and sound learned? This question is thrown at us all to reflect on how we have the potential to develop the nation of Indonesia through music with its various approaches, depths, and scale.
Music is no longer merely entertainment. We can draw a knowledge through music and through music we can produce knowledge. Through music we can create our identity that reflects current thinking and frees itself on the walls of thought that are sometimes far more ridiculous than the wall that wants to be built to limit the movement of Mexico to its neighbors. It is time we look at music with a wider perspective because in fact one of the true freedoms is freedom to learn and create.