A question of the senses, by Jeff:

May 6, 2009 emmybunny

Emotional Notes

What if?

What if speaking were replaced by music?

What if?

This is a fascinating question, as it has to do with the most important form of communication for humans in this time period. What would happen if our basis for communication were stripped and replaced by musical recordings? I think people would begin to first symbolize certain pieces that stand for certain emotions, such as Beethoven\’s Fifth Symphony for raging anger, and Schindler\’s List for sadness. I think after much blustering about, playing recordings of songs with no one having an inkling of comprehension, someone would construct a musical code, very much like the alphabet, or Morse Code. The musical recordings would eventually become short as Morse Code blips, signifying certain letters, words, emotions, or ideas. I think, in time, this musical language would become just as efficient as Morse Code or Sign Language, using a more abstract form of communication. It would definitely work, though. I can’t decide which form of communication would be more irritating to listen to- idle chatter of cave men not understanding each other, or mindless musical sounds and noises of men trying to communicate. Probably the musical language would be more annoying.