Music and Language

The commonalities between music & language suggest that the convergence of training in the two disciplines can provide a result greater than the sum of the parts. Because language & music are modes of human communication with principal, but not exclusive, verbal & nonverbal modalities, their interaction can be exploited. The physical characteristics of sound & the psychological attributes of pitch, loudness, timbre, & continuance are common to both language & music; both modalities have many universals in common. Parallel development occurs in both areas as a result of a combination of the maturation process & learning. Concurrent study of music & language could result in general benefits: (1) transfer of improvisational ability in music to creative problem solving, (2) use of musical form study to reinforce intellectual organization, & (3) participation in nonverbal musical ensemble to effect better verbal human communication. Modified AA