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A Euphonious Feature: The Nature of Music as a Force for Unity

Katherine E. Weber
Glen Allen High School

A Euphonious Feature: The Nature of Music as a Force for Unity

Songs possess the strongest community building powerwe use them deliberately at
those moments when we want to waken the consciousness of being part of a communityto
deepen the power of such an experience (Music Amongst the Hitler Youth, 1999). This
statement was extracted from the memo of the Nazi Partys educational program, Hitlerjugend,
or Hitler Youth, a program meant to promote unity among other nationalistic ideals for its
students.
Music, unlike other forms of art, is wildly accessible to populations due to its both
eclectic and fickle properties. Therefore, with its malleable components, including its lyrics,
intonations, musicians, music can be used, and has been used, as a political tool in the
nationalization, or the defining of a national identity, of a country, to promote patriotism. In the
same manner that politicians exploit music as an attempt to alter its inhabitants perceptions of
their country, dissidents have used music as a means of social change. However, music has also
been cited as an opportunity to bind people together of different, even conflicting backgrounds,
or simply to further the concept of group cohesion. Music, throughout history, has been
employed to invoke a sense of nationalism and unity amongst populations due to its ability to
reflect ideologies and appeal universally across social barriers.
In order to properly analyze musics unifying properties one must consider the
universality of music, most exclusively the reasoning behind this universality. While there is no
quantifiable variable in the study of music, as each song is subjective in all of its components,
the separate components that work together to create music can be analyzed for their ability to
form an piece accessible for adoption by its audience.

To begin this study of a subjective entity, one must go to the most seemingly Orwellian
aspect of culture: the influence of government and politics. A governmental body, with a degree
of control on the culture of its population, especially with the growth of technology, has the
capacity to reach a wider range of socioeconomic statuses, which therefore allows music to, if
properly composed, exert its influence over a larger population to inculcate the sentiments the
government wishes for its citizens to adopt.
This postulate was a driving force in post-World War II East Germany, according to the
work of Silverberg (2009). The sickle and hammer had crept up into the eastern half of the
freshly sliced state, and hoping to incorporate a Marxist-Leninist ideology in this transitional
cultural stage, the Social Unity Party sought music as a tool for this incorporation. Music became
a major focus point in fostering a desired culture for the party, and the party established an
extensive network to control musical life of East Germany. (Silverberg, 2009). In order to
unite their population and undermine the hiatuses between socioeconomic classes, they instigated
policies which made art, in particular music, more accessible to the proletariat (Silverberg,
2009). By widening the accessibility of the music and therefore broadening the population of
viable listeners, political leaders have greater strength with music to foster unity.
Lyrics, while not the sole striking force of nationalism in music, allow the composer to
tell a story, in the hopes that the story will be taken on by the people. The work of Ho (2006)
demonstrates the effect of lyrics on the quality of a musical piece through works of music with
social themes in Chinese history. In addition, he uses examples from the history of Chinese
music to demonstrate musics ability to reflect the sentiments and ideologies of a nation. A piece
by the female composer Qin Jin titled To Encourage the Rights of Women rebuked the male

supremacy of that time period when it was published in a magazine in 1907, and advocated the
womens liberation movement in war participation, as told by its lyrics:
We love freedom and encourage which is like a glass of wine.
We claim equal opportunity for men and women, as they have the same talent.
Women wont achieve less than men.
We should be brave and proud to wash away past insults.
We fight hand in hand against our enemies, so as to gain sovereignty.

The repetition of the pronoun we in conjunction with the themes expressed are unifying in
quality, simply by the words of the song. The lyrics, among other factors, allow the songs to
reflect the ideologies of the given entity, therefore promoting a sense of unity.
The lyrics, meant to promote nationalism and unity, are, when composed, only
promotional in theory. Yet the Costa Rican national anthem proves that the lyrics can infiltrate a
population and enter its everyday discourse, demonstrated by the work of Neustadt (2011). The
lyrics of the Costa Rican himno nacional include the following phrases:
En la lucha tenaz, de fecunda labor
que enrojece el hombre la faz
Which is translated as:
In the tenacious struggle, of fertile labor
That reddens mans face
In Costa Rica, it is likely to hear in a greeting, Cmo va la lucha? (How goes the struggle?)
and the answer to this question would always be tenaz (tenacious), just as in the lyrics of the
himno nacional of Costa Rica. The idea of this tenacious struggle especially of a man of the
agricultural life epitomizes the official representation of the ideal Costa Rican and it is an
image of Costa Rican identity (Neustadt, 2011). The lyrics of a piece of music have only

potential at the pieces birth. The adoption of the lyrics, in this case, is what allows the music to
become a force of unity.
The intonation of a piece has the ability to convey the mood of a song, and at times,
literal significance. The South African national anthem Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika has been
described as sad, witnessing the suffering of African people in Johannesburg. It seemed to
hold a sense of African nationalism, likely due to its intonation in conjunction with the lyrics.
(Okigbo, 2010, p. 52). As this African ideology was central to the piece, it was chosen to be sung
at the convention of the ANC as a closing hymn in 1912. The song, the work of Enoch
Sonotonga, would be spread through the nation by the Zulu Ohlange Choir, and the Nkosi
Sikelel iAfrika would eventually become the official anthem of the African National Congress
in 1927 (Okigbo, 2010). The development of this anthem is a fair example of how the simple
tone of the song, in conjunction with other factors, allow for song to come to represent a cultural
identity.
Yet the intonation allows for another venue of symbolism, as represented by Beethovens
Fifth Symphony in World War II. The first four notes of the piece had a short-short-short-long
rhythmic pattern signifying the Morse code letter V, and this V was taken to mean Victory as
way to concentrate the war effort amongst the Allied Powers. In this case, the intonation of the
song had quite literal significance, but nevertheless the intonation allowed for the music to
become a force of unity for the Allied Powers against the Axis counterparts in that time period.
Because music must be played, or sung, another opportunity for symbolism in music
exists. The singers and players themselves give life to the music, but more notably in terms of the
study of unity, the backgrounds of the singers and players themselves make a statement. In late
twentieth century South Africa, amidst the social and political unrest of apartheid and the violent

disparity between the Afrikaners and the black South Africans, Nelson Mandela was attempting
to bridge the gap between the opposing entities through the sport treasured by the Afrikaners:
rugby. The national team of the South Africa, the Springboks, while loved by the Afrikaners, was
despised by the native South Africans. At the games, the black South Africans would cheer
wildly for the other team; rugby was yet another example of the hatred and separation between
the two groups. The Springboks, mostly bred Afrikaner, had little knowledge of the native
culture and language of South Africa. However, in part by the perspicacious unifying techniques
of Mandela, the rugby team was taught the anthem of the black South Africans: Nkosi Sikelel
iAfrika whose origins are aforementioned. With words difficult to pronounce, and in general, an
unfamiliar culture behind the song, the muscled Boers sang the hymn at their next rugby game
as a symbol of unity to both sides. Because of the background of its singers, the performance
of the hymn before the game held significance of unification to those who witnessed it (Carlin,
2008). This property of music is quite strong, for it is the essence of the adoption of the music
into the group setting. The singing or playing of a song, especially an anthem, holds much
political significance, as each person has their race, gender, occupation, et cetera to represent.
The affiliation with music in education has allowed, in history, for music to be bred, per
se, amongst youth in hopes that subsequent generations would retain ideology-ridden songs and
ideally, influence the older generations in the process. This was elemental in Nazi Germany in
the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) program which was formed in order to inculcate sentiments of
Nazism in its students. Music was employed as a means of building group cohesion and
obedience (Music Amongst the Hitler Youth, 1990). The songs mainly reflected a Nazi
perspective on the world; a former member of the Hitlerjugend recalls that in their songs all was
bright, shiny, and clear, the sun and earth were ours, and tomorrow so, too, would be the whole

world (Music Amongst the Hitler Youth, n.d.). From the work of Jamset (2013), music
teachers, during wartime, seem to assume the socially assigned role to fan the flames of
nationalism through the teaching of patriotic pieces of music (p. 125). Education allows music
to exert more influence and this influence can therefore be utilized to promote the unity and
patriotism desired by a political entity.
One might argue that music plays far less than a critical role in the promotion of
nationalism; that rather, developmental or militaristic factors, among others, have greater
influence. As the influence of music on the particular nationalistic and unifying factors of a
population are variables practically impossible to quantify, it would be blasphemous to
confidently define the extent to which music reaches a certain population; however, historical
examples bolster the credibility of the influence of music in unity and nationalism.
Beethovens Ninth Symphony appropriately concludes this reflection on musics unifying
tendencies. In history, this dynamic symphony has taken the shape of different rebellions,
according to a radio broadcast of Block, featuring Candaele (2014). For example, in the
Tiananmen uprising in China, 1989, the symphony was blared over a broadcast system to
drown out the government messages being broadcast (Block, 2014). But the most compelling
example was of the story of a Chilean man, who sits in a torture prison in Chile. Under the
military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet of the 1970s, thousands of men were being tortured.
This prisoner, Renato Alvarado, hears a sound. It is the sound of a large group of women outside
the walls of the prison singing Himno a la Alegria or Ode to Joy on behalf of the men inside.
Their voices are loud, fierce, strong united. Renato Alvarado recalled the moment, hearing the
music coming from outside the walls of his torture prison: It was as having the colorful butterfly
in our hearts. It was fantastic. It was hope.

Alvarados experience with Beethovens Ninth Symphony is one that demonstrates how
music has such an effect on us as humans. Music, this awesome blending of sound and story, is
an intangible substance. It is an intangible substance, yet this intangible substance has been
known to weave together groups of people, so that the nationalism, the sense of community, even
if only truly felt by the ears, reaches our core. Music, this great, intangible substance, is tangible,
it seems. Alvarado felt the unity of the music he heard as a colorful butterfly in his heart.
While it is impossible to know exactly, with certainty, what it is about music as this great,
intangible substance that has the power to bring people together, it is not necessary to solve its
perennial mystery, but to simply listen, let it enter you, and perhaps you will find yourself
singing along with the others.

References

(1999). Music Amongst Hitler Youth. Music and the Holocaust.

(1999). Beethovens 5th Symphony. Music and the Holocaust.
Block, M. (Narrator). (2014, January 15). The Ode to Joy as a Call to Action. [Radio
broadcast episode]. Deceptive Cadence. National Public Radio.
Carlin, J. (2008). Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made the Nation.
New York: Penguin Books.
Neustadt, R. (2011). Reading Spanish American National Anthems: Sonograms of National
Identity. Music & Politics, 5.
Ho. W. (2006). Social change and nationalism in Chinas popular songs. Social History, 31(4),
435-453.
Jamset, V. (2013). Patriotism and Nationalism in Music Education. Fontes Artis Musicae, (2),
123-125.
Okigbo, A. C. (2010). Musical Inculturation, Theological Transformation, and the
Construction of Black Nationalism in Early South African Choral Music Tradition.
Africa Today, 57(2), 42-65.
Silverberg, L. (2009). East German Music and the Problem of National Identity. Nationalities
Papers, 37(4), 501-522.