Bernard Christian Magnongui

The Power of Music Bernard Christian Magnongui

To encourage literature and the arts is a duty which every good citizen owes to his country. - George Washington, Founding Father and President of the United States. When words and music meet, what role do they have in triggering transformational experience in the listener? Songs contain musical and verbal messages. As opposed to instrumental music, whose nature is closer to the vague and dynamic realm of emotion, lyrics are more meaning-specific because of the content of their words. When these two dissimilar components (emotional and cognitive) get together in a song, they form a gestalt. Although they form the holistic entity that is a song, can we assume that melody and lyrics share an equal role in musical experience? How do these two elements interact with each other affecting our perception, mood, and behavior? José Maria Garcia de Medeiros Silva, Ph. D.