I love how music is a language that forms bridges where there are barriers. On my trip to LiJiang, China, I had a chance to hold a Guzheng, which was on display in a souvenir store. Since the shopkeeper spoke little English, she plucked a string and said “la.” I (poorly) plucked backwards, and realised the notes formed “do-re-mi-sol-la,” the notes on the pentatonic scale.
In our classes for infants and toddlers, we play songs from the pentatonic scale a lot. In fact, the patterns from mi-sol-la are the earliest bitonal and tritonal songs a child can sing (Rain, Rain, Go Away, etc)
From our genetic predispositions come shared social realities. Many of our folk songs take on similar patterns from the pentatonic scale— regardless of where in the world that we come from. (While not entirely pentatonic, think of how America’s “Down by the Station,” France’s “Alouette,” and the Philippines’ “Sasara ang Bulaklak” begin with the same melodic phrase). Music, then, echoes a sense of a shared humanity.
When you take a step back and think about it, our world is truly an interconnected one. Music is just another way we experience this reality. Isn’t that a lovely thought on a rainy Thursday evening?
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