Is Music A Universal Language?

This blog is based on a article by: David Ludden Ph.D. | Psychology Today 2015

"Music is a universal language. Or so musicians like to claim. “With music,” they’ll say, “you can communicate across cultural and linguistic boundaries in ways that you can’t with ordinary languages like English or French.”

On one level, this statement is obviously true. You don’t have to speak French to enjoy a composition by Debussy. But is music really a universal language? That depends on what you mean by “universal” and what you mean by “language.”

Every human culture has music, just as each has language. So it’s true that music is a universal feature of the human experience. At the same time, both music and linguistic systems vary widely from culture to culture. 

RMP #1

Starting a new series, titled "Random Memory Posts", which should play out just like the name describes. Now I'm not promising that these will occur on a regular basis, but I here I am at the starting line and that in itself is a powerful commitment. 

Today's RMP is from the year, 1968 and is both a painful and wonderful memory, depending on the person you ask for their perspective. 

Back story, I've always loved to read, and by the time I was eight, I was diving into easy-to-read mysteries, as well as fantasy and sci-fi books. I had started devouring the Lucky Starr science fiction books that were written by Isaac Asimov, though through the first few books in the series he used the pseudonym, Paul French. Another of my favorite authors was Arthur C. Clarke and if my memory is correct, I had read an article in Boys Life magazine where Clarke referred to a movie coming out later in 1968, which was based on some short stories he had written a few years earlier. 

That movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

Happy 4th of July!

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were lifelong friends. They were both patriots during the American Revolution, both worked on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, and both held the title of President of the United States. Although different in many ways, when the two met at the Continental Congress in 1775, they developed a strong friendship and respect for one another. They bonded over a love of books, reading, and writing.

However, despite their closeness, Jefferson and Adams fought often over their political views. Jefferson and Adams were the last surviving members of the original American revolutionaries who had stood up to the British empire and forged a new political system in the former colonies.As a Democratic / Republican, Jefferson advocated for the rights of states, while Adams, a Federalist, supported a strong national government.  Both friends ran for president in the 1796 election, and Adams beat Jefferson by just 3 electoral votes. Still, the two remained friends. And after receiving the second highest number of votes, Jefferson served as vice-president to Adams for the next four years. 

It was during this time that their ideas about policy-making became as distinct as their personalities. The irascible and hot-tempered Adams was a firm believer in a strong centralized government, while the erudite and genteel Jefferson believed federal government should take a more hands-off approach and defer to individual states’ rights. As Adams’ vice president, Jefferson was so horrified by what he considered to be Adams’ abuse of the presidency–particularly his passage of the restrictive Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798–that he abandoned Adams and Washington for his estate at Monticello. There, he plotted how to bring his Republican faction back into power in the presidential election of 1800. After an exceptionally bitter campaign, in which both parties engaged in slanderous attacks on each other in print, Jefferson emerged victorious. It appeared the former friends would be eternal enemies. And they were enemies for the next ten years.

Pulling back the curtain . . .

It has been brought to my attention by the two or three of you who read this blog on a regular basis, that my postings have become less personal over the past six months or so. (Or to be more precise, since I renewed this blog in early 2025). 

It is always revealing when reminded of how much of oneself is oblivious to your own thoughts, perceptions and actions. 

So to quickly deal with the surmised motive behind my slipping behind the fence of my public facade, I'm still dealing with grief and pain. Grief for a life and love that also I let slip away, no matter the rapidly changing introspections of that period of my life. And to be brutally transparent, so much of the past few years is literally a blur. Some of it can be attributed to me painting over memories in an effort to recast myself in a more favorable light, perhaps. Then, there is a more physical cause, as I'm getting older, memories are becoming more of an hurdle to recall than in years past. And then there is the unknown that hovers over us all. What is the old saying, there are two viewpoints in every relationship and then there is the truth?

Well, I'm not sure I believe that is always the case. Sometimes there is just the truth, and two people trying to navigate their own survival in the vacuum of what used to be.