College of the Redwoods

For as long as there has been “civilization”—and in all likelihood, before—humans have engaged in music. For a very long time, people have been aware of music’s power to convey emotion and to coordinate a group’s energies and intentions, ranging from its central role in religious ceremonies to the subcultures that have cohered around specific musical styles in the twentieth and early twenty first centuries. Finally, cognitive psychologists are aware music is unique amongst the arts in coordinating body, intellect, emotion. In short, paraphrasing Plato, music retains its power to shake the walls of the city.