Music:

a fundamental activity of humankind

Music has been, and continues to be, important to all people around the world. Music is part of a group's cultural identity; it reflects their past and separates them from surrounding people. Music is rooted in the culture of a society in the same ways that food, dress and language are.

Music is not static, it changes constantly as people and their circumstances change. The Greeks believed that music and different modes could affect a person's mood. The ideas and feelings that music gives to its audience is culture specific. The meaning of a certain piece of music is embedded in the past, and in the culture of the people listening to it. The life circumstances of the people listening to the music are an important part of the music itself.

Music is a form of communication; it involves sounds produced by members of a community that are understandable by others of the same community. The ethnography of music involves not only recording the actual music, but recording how it was made, how it affects people, and how it is used. Music involves both sounds and human beings. Music and different musical styles spread to different areas through migration of people. As people move and share their music with other people, musical styles change. Influences from a variety of cultures can often be seen in different types of music.