You’ve probably heard of Calvin Harris, Avicii, or Martin Garrix.
Electronic music like theirs, has been gaining popularity over the past few decades, and has become a common part of modern lifestyles.
Electronic music is any music that is produced digitally, like an electric piano or electric guitar.
However, there have been discussions about whether or not music electronically produced can replace organic music — or acoustic music — over time, especially as technology is rapidly advancing.
Growing up musically
“Live with passion, live musical.ly.” (sorry, I had to).
Besides my musical.ly phase I had when I was 11, I’ve been playing the piano and singing in my school’s choir since I was 6 years old, so music has been a big part of my life.
I remember attending my high school sister’s choir concert as a fifth grader, and I listened in absolute awe. At the surface, their voices feel like a warm blanket was gently placed over us. I heard for the altos, tenors, bases, sopranos, and all parts in between, each adding their own special character to the piece, that I can’t describe in words. But ever since that live concert, I’ve wanted to sing in that same choir — which is where I am now.
If you’ve ever asked me, “What’s your favorite song/genre/artist?” and my face turns blank, just know that the inside of my brain looks like there’s a messenger man just searching my brain for music knowledge town but finds a ghost town instead.
It’s not that I don’t know any songs, it’s that I listen to such a wide variety of genres and artists that I couldn’t choose just one song. I asked around to see if anyone else feels this way, and what I found is that people who are more musically inclined, and/or have a lot of musical experience think about music in deeper ways than people who see music at its surface.
Diving a little deeper into music
If you think about it, music doesn’t make sense. How does a baby hearing music and know that it’s time for a happy dance?
One of my piano instructor’s cats always joined our lessons just to hear me play the piano. How does an animal, not even human, connect to music the same way we do?
How does a crowd associate physical space with musical notes?
Watch this video to see how Bobby McFerrin shows us an audience’s natural response to music and motion (make sure its at at 58:56).
Near the end of one of my choir concerts, our director told everyone to start snapping. Right then and there, we recreated a rainstorm in our very theater. It was an experience like no other.
Watch this YouTube video as an example of how it sounds!
What makes music so special, specifically organic/acoustic music, is that it is a form of communication that carries a deeper meaning that words couldn’t come close to describe. My piano instructor’s cat agrees.
If we go back to the 1700s, an unfortunate time in history during which the Atlantic slave trade took place, this trade was organized in a way that innocent enslaved people were taken from different areas of Africa, creating a language barrier making it difficult and nearly impossible to communicate with others.
While there was no common language, it was music that provided a way for these people to connect with each other. They found that music was a universal connection where they were able to share stories and create a community that supports each other through their hardships.
And that was when African American music took root.
Let’s keep in mind that electronic music wasn’t even introduced in the 1700s, and that these deep connections and evidence of music playing a bigger role in our lives than we thought, are all effects of pure, non-digital forms of music that are produced through nature and human interaction.
Acoustic music is iconic
Electronic music has made its way into our lives, and is beautiful and important as well, but a big reason for that is because we have grown up with this type of music. Most of us have nostalgic connections of it to our past, and it has energy perfect for parties, hanging out with friends, or just chilling.
But if someone were to recreate an electronically produced song, it would sound more similar to the original compared to if someone were to recreate a song made with real wind, string, or percussion instruments. That’s because humans play these instruments with their own special style and touch that adds its own unique characteristic to every piece. Electronic music doesn’t necessarily have that same effect on us because each note is made to sound the same each time it’s played.
Electronic music is a great supplement to organic, non-electronic music, but it could never replace it.
Organic music connects to each of our souls, and it’s a part of our human and mother nature.