Musical and Social Meaning…part 6

Musical and Social Meaning…part 6

 Because of the complexity of how music functions, I am drawn to the conclusion that music which stands alone is beyond written communication and is therefore a metalanguage or perhaps even more accurately a paralanguage. Those who espouse the view that music is a metalanguage and or a paralanguage must of necessity concede that the music part of music is only analogous to and not synonymous with how  written or spoken communication functions.  I also contend that music functions in some ways like language, but close comparison reveals that music alone and language do function differently is some ways.  However, the fact that instrumental music (music alone) does not function exactly like written or spoken language does not indicate that it does not communicate understandable meaning to the listener.  This view that music as a whole is only analogous to language becomes even more complex when a musical composition includes words.