Dug Campbell

Learning A Different Language

This Reddit notification popped up on my phone. As soon as I noticed it, it made me laugh. And then it struck me just how many processes had just played out pretty much simultaneously…

Despite only showing the first nine words of the post, the combination with the picture told a story. But, I suspect, only to people who (1) have worked at learning music and (2) can read sheet music.

In other words, this is funny – but only ever to a very small subset of people. Perfect, in other words, for a platform like Reddit where each sub is perfectly focused on whatever niche you might be into.

It got me thinking about music as a language. There’s plenty of research that shows a strong correlation between musicians and linguists.

They say that the world improves as communication increases. So if music is just another language, it feels like something we should be encouraging – both in schools and beyond to promote harmony.

And not only because it can make you laugh.