From Caveman times, the medieval era, the baroque period, to the groovy seventies to modern times, music has been an integral part of the human experience. Around every person on earth has experienced a form of music, whether it’s from humming a tune, tapping on a table, or listening to the most heartwrenching symphony your ears have ever encountered. The question is, does this art form surpass the crafts of painting or dancing or poetry?
To elaborate on this mind-boggling question, a point to mention is music’s status as a universal language. Music crosses cultural and linguistic barriers; anyone can feel rhythm or emotion regardless of background. A girl in Beijing listening to opera can feel close to music just as much as a girl in Montevideo clinking her spoon against her mug. As music doesn’t have a colour or image or texture, people all over the world can make music in any way they like. Music can be linked to any memory or feeling without having to see it before your eyes, like a sculpture or a book. Yet such remains the question: is the superiority of music based on how much emotion it evokes from a person? Do you measure art in terms of how much it makes you feel, think, or question yourself?
I think the point of art, whether its music or literature, is the different intentions it has toward certain people’s minds and senses. For example you can watch a movie (a form of visual art) and it can make you cry, laugh, and show you who you might want to be. But you could also say the same for a simple sketch or a ballet recital. So, what makes music better at alluring these emotions? One could say that listening to a song or a melody can instantly affect one’s mood or feelings, often more directly than visual art like a simple painting of a sunset. I think the way in which music has such a strong grip on humanity is how close we can get to feeling like we’re on another planet. Through these sounds and lyrics you can envision being anywhere with anyone. You can tie down a song to a memory or experience which you can return to at any time, by just humming or reciting the tune in your head. The melodies of a song or hymn can say enough for themselves; no one is telling you what to feel or see when you envision the strength of a song.
But how do art forms work together to prove which one is better? You could say that music sort of interlinks with any other art. The strength of a film can lie in its soundtrack, the words of a poem can reflect the lyrical rhythm of a song and dance choreography arguably depends on how the music carries it. Music adds as a big factor to day-to-day life, but it does not invalidate the importance of anything else. There is beauty in silence. There is beauty in the simple act of reading, writing, sketching or designing. Some art forms don’t require sound to make something significant. All because we can’t hear someone’s thoughts and emotions out loud, doesn’t mean they don’t have the same significance or sublimity.
In short, there is no superiority in art. Every art form would be bland without the other. Music may have a direct stimulation, due to its rhythms, instruments, singing or beats, but it absolutely does not erase the beauty in performance and visuality. Every form of art is expressive and provoking in its own unique way and one could never replace the other.