Berea Lost: Music in a Utopian Society

The difficult part of describing a Utopian Society is the fact that there is no Utopian Society in existence. The only thing that one can use to describe is a compilation of what opinions and what one has seen or read in science fiction works. In order to say what music would be like in a Utopian Society, opinion will have to be highly relied on. In essence, there is no right or wrong way to describe what music would be like in a Utopian Society.

A Dystopian Society is the exact opposite of a Utopian Society. “Aspects of a Utopian Society would also be aspects of a Dystopian Society,” says Kathleen Barton. Since there is a certain amount of uniformity in both societies, there would likely be no music. Music is an expression of emotions and opinions and so therefore if everyone was thinking the same things or being told to think the same things, then there would not the expression of anyone’s individual opinions. The niche in which you belong wouldn’t be inexistence, meaning the songs that the niche would create or listen to would also not be inexistence.

There is no wrong way to think about this. Some people believe that music in a Utopian Society would primarily be “happy music”. This would include music that is uplifting and possibly even some form of religious music. Classical could also be included into this genre of happy music but, the question is, who defines what “happy music” is. Would it be the upbeat pop music of our generation or simply music that doesn’t express any negative thought or image?

Can the human mind even begin to fathom the concept of perfect? Is music something that can exist in a world that is perfect? Can it be said that music is, in its own way, perfect? All of these questions and more help us to try to understand the ideas that aren’t understandable and sometimes seem ludicrous but ultimately will help us learn about the human mind.