Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) once said “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” Or, perhaps, by those who would not hear the music? You may hear harmonies, particular chords and notes, even instruments in a musical composition that I am oblivious to. I might find musical patterns in the wind-blown chimes outside my home or in the water of a rushing brook–places where you might not pause to listen. My life experiences, perceptions and conclusions are as different from yours as yours are from mine. Thus, each of us dances to a different drummer. One source describes Nietzsche’s comment this way:

The metaphor of dancing and hearing music is a powerful way to illustrate [a] concept. Dancing is a form of expression, a physical manifestation of an inner emotional or artistic experience. It symbolizes actions that might appear unconventional or irrational to those who lack the necessary insight or context, represented by the inability to “hear the music.” The observers, unable to discern the hidden meaning or motivation behind the dance, dismiss it as madness.”

Literally madness . . . Come Dancing

Dance is usually inspired by music, or even the whispered hint of a melody. Music evokes certain feelings and memories, and people find curative and restorative powers in the harmonics. For example, in the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in Europe but particularly in Southern Italy, a “dancing mania” suddenly appeared where multitudes of people danced nonstop against their will until they collapsed on the ground in a catatonic state. Because the outbreak originally started on St. Vitus Day (June 28th according to the Gregorian calendar), the malady became known as St. Vitus Dance, though today we have a different name for it. Nothing then could stop the infected dancers who thrashed mindlessly as if bewitched. Back then, the culpit was thought to be the bite from the tarantula, a spider imbued with a nonlethal though painful dose of poison. The only thing that could restore the dancers to calm and health was a certain musical piece, later named for the tarantula. It is still referred to and available today as the Tarantella in honor of the spider and the afflicted dancers. Current thinking is that the frenzied dancers suffered from ergot poisoning, a fungus growing on rye and other crops and it was not a spider bite at all.

Music as a teaching tool

Through the centuries, music has been used to facilitate learning. For example, the contemporary religious song Our Father has the Lord’s Prayer as its lyrics. The third century heretic Arius used music to spread his teaching throughout the Roman Empire. People back then who might not have remembered his words in prose could recall them in song. And there are all sorts of music for people of different cultures on different continents to enjoy. Even babies perceive and enjoy music. To this we can include pets. Psychology Today cites research that indicates dogs have a preference for classical music. Canines particularly enjoy woodwind instruments such as flutes, clarinets, oboes and bassoons more than brass, string or percussion instruments. Some dairy farmers play classical music in their stables, believing that classical music increases milk production.

Music exercises many difference areas of our brain. It is not as if one portion of our brain, alone, processes what we hear. People affected by a stroke may hear music differently than we do for this exact same reason. Neuro diverse (aka neuro atypical) people sometimes experience synesthesia, and they see colors and shapes while listening to music.

Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein researched something named the Ur Song. The Maestro noted that small children around the world tend to hum or sing to theselves at a certain young age. But what is even more astonishing is when you compare the six or so individual notes the children sing, there are all the same notes in the same sequence. Thus, young children in Peru sing the same notes as children in Nigeria, or in China, or Finland. This is described as:

A basic, fundamental and universal sequence of notes, forming a melody; and so named because of the Mesopotamian City of Ur, regarded as the first civilization.”

It is thought by some to be the remnants of a common language among humans that existed when the Tower of Babel was being built, as described in Genesis. Eventually, of course, the peculiarities of the different cultures corrupt this Ur Song and eventually it is lost to the children as they grow (See also here.)

The power of music

They say that music soothes the savage beast. However, William Congreve who authored that quote wrote it thusly: “Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast, To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak . . .” So, it is not the savage beast that is soothed but rather the savage breast. No one would argue that music is not transformable, disarming. But is it even more? Let me borrow from fiction.

There was a very interesting episode thirty years or so ago in Season Two of the “New Outer Limits” called “Music of the Spheres” staring Kirsten Dunst. In this episode, a college student believes he hears a pattern of nonrandom sounds picked up from space, specifically from the star Sirius. This phenomenon is sometimes called pareidolia and with other disorders, musical tinnitus.

The student’s professor does not hear anything interesting or unusual from a tape of the sounds. But when the student plays the tape for his younger sister, she clearly hears it. In fact, the tape is reproduced thousands and thousands of times and distributed to many people around the world thanks to the popularity of it which is described as space music. Those who do not hear anything meaningful in the tape become alarmed at the changes they see in their children. The chidren, along with some equally addicted adults, listen to the tapes almost nonstop and appear as if they have a crack addiction. There are changes in the pupils of the people who are fascinated by the contents of the tape. Their vital signs are fluctuating in strage ways and they are developing shiny, gold-colored patches on their skin. But the people affected are convinced that something good is happening, much to the terror of the people who are not affected.

At the end of the episode, we are told the meaning. It has been several decades since I last saw this, so I may not be perfectly accurate on the details. But essentially, an advanced civilization on a planet around the star Sirius discovered that our sun was about to nova, or explode as it increases in size. Life on earth would be destroyed by the changes and the increased intensity of the radiation except for those who listened to the tapes and allowed their bodies to morph. The message in the tape was able to produce life saving changes in the people, but not in those people who were dismissive to what was happening.

To me, this is a very Christian-like message. Think of the words of Jesus, the very Gospels as a song. If you immerse yourself into the message and you allow it to change you, then you morph spiritually (but also in terms of your character) into something else which is designed to preserve you from all that happens in the future, whether in this life or the next. Yet, not everyone, unfortunately, is so persuaded.

Finally, a bit about the dance, itself:

Dances tell stories even as songs do

“Dance” magazine explored the topic of dancing without music. They reported:

While dance is often considered inextricably linked to music, the absence of music can open a unique space for exploration.”

Many accomplished dancers cannot fathom dancing without music, but other performers easily can. They see dance, alone, as incredibly romantic, as with a couple dancing in the moonlight without accompaniment. These dancers see their art as a discipline all of its own. Or, they hear tunes in their head without prompting. It could be that music cannot adequately capture the feelings that propel them.

Some people, such as those who enjoy dancing but (who) are deaf, have no option as far as accompaniment is concerned. But, they can train themselves to dance in perfect rhythm and in silence. And their accomplishments are no less striking than those of hearing people, even though the challenges are different.

Sometimes in life we need to see with different eyes, and hear with different ears to understand the many variables and nuances we have in our existence. I hope that this brief essay opens the door a bit to us exploring our environment a bit more and being more accepting to those of us who dance in the apparent absence of music.