--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Music originally had a social function…" description: "\"Music originally had a social function. You were in church, in a concert hall, a marching band; you were dancing. I'm concerned that music could be too..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b2/oliver-sacks-2132_band_music-originally-had-a-social-function-y_819103.jpg" --- # Music originally had a social function. You were in… ![“Music originally had a social function. You were in church, in a concert hall, a marching band; you were dancing. I'm concerned that music could be too separated from its roots and just become a pleasure-giving experience, like a drug.” quote by Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b2/oliver-sacks-2132_band_music-originally-had-a-social-function-y_819103.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b2/oliver-sacks-2132_band_music-originally-had-a-social-function-y_819103.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b2/oliver-sacks-2132_band_music-originally-had-a-social-function-y_819103.jpg) > “Music originally had a social function. You were in church, in a concert hall, a marching band; you were dancing. I'm concerned that music could be too separated from its roots and just become a pleasure-giving experience, like a drug.” [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Music historically served communal, ritual, and emotional purposes, linking people in shared experiences. **In simple terms:** Music once united people in rituals and celebrations. Key Takeaway Preserve music’s communal roots. Themes community ritual emotion culture social function Mood nostalgic reflective concerned Type observational philosophical When to use this quote - church services - concerts - marching bands - dance gatherings - modern streaming Key Concepts anthropology psychology ethnomusicology Questions to Reflect On - How can we foster communal music experiences today? - What rituals could music revive? A Different Perspective Modern consumption can isolate listeners, reducing shared experience. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Church](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/church/) [Concerts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concerts/) [Dancing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dancing/) [Drug](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drug/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Marching band](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marching-band/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Music making](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music-making/) [Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure/) [Roots](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/roots/) [Social](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social/) ## Related quotes > [I turned to music originally because of my past and needing a release or an outlet to get out anger or frustration or hurt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-aguilera/i-turned-to-music-originally-because-of-my-past-and-needing-a-release/) [Christina Aguilera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-aguilera/) > [In Africa, music is for everything, Music was originally used for community. That was what music was for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmanuel-jal/in-africa-music-is-for-everything-music-was-originally-used-for/) [Emmanuel Jal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmanuel-jal/) > [My first album, 'Englaborn,' was based on music originally written for the theatre. My solo albums, like 'IBM 1401, a User's Manual' and 'Fordlandia,'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-johannsson/my-first-album-englaborn-was-based-on-music-originally-written-for/) [Johann Johannsson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-johannsson/) > [The poem is not only the point of origin for all the language and narrative arts, the poem returns us to the very social…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-silliman/the-poem-is-not-only-the-point-of-origin-for-all-the-language-and/) Ron Silliman > [The sharper the competition, the better it serves its social function to improve economic production.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/the-sharper-the-competition-the-better-it-serves-its-social-function/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [“Publicity has another social function. The fact that this function has not been planned as a purpose by those make and use publicity in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/publicity-has-another-social-function-the-fact-that-this-function-has/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Guilt serves a powerful social function in terms of policing our behavior.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-d-burns/guilt-serves-a-powerful-social-function-in-terms-of-policing-our/) [David D. Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-d-burns/) > [“But the best-treated, most favored and intelligent part of any society is often the most ungrateful. 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But music can also serve a very important social…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/music-can-be-a-distraction-and-an-escape-sometimes-a-welcome-escape/) [Howard Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-zinn/) > [“The social function of narrative is not limited to 'primitive' people sitting around the fire telling each other where Fire came from and why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/the-social-function-of-narrative-is-not-limited-to-primitive-people/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [If even dying is to be made a social function, then, grant me the favor of sneaking out on tiptoe without disturbing the party.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dag-hammarskj-ld/if-even-dying-is-to-be-made-a-social-function-then-grant-me-the-favor/) [Dag Hammarskjold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dag-hammarskj-ld/) > [The family has a social function and so it should be sustained.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rocco-buttiglione/the-family-has-a-social-function-and-so-it-should-be-sustained/) [Rocco Buttiglione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rocco-buttiglione/) ## More by Oliver Sacks > [“The feelings are similar, in some ways, to those one has in Rome or Athens, but quite different in other ways, because this culture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/the-feelings-are-similar-in-some-ways-to-those-one-has-in-rome-or/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [But the saddest difference between them was that Zazetsky, as Luria said, 'fought to regain his lost faculties with the indomitable tenacity of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/but-the-saddest-difference-between-them-was-that-zazetsky-as-luria/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears - it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ears.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/music-can-lift-us-out-of-depression-or-move-us-to-tears-it-is-a/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“We have five senses in which we glory and which we recognise and celebrate, senses that constitute the sensible world for us. But there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/we-have-five-senses-in-which-we-glory-and-which-we-recognise-and/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“But it must be said from the outset that a disease is never a mere loss or excess— that there is always a reaction,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/but-it-must-be-said-from-the-outset-that-a-disease-is-never-a-mere/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [There is no one part of the brain which recognizes or responds emotionally to music. Instead, there are many different parts responding to different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/there-is-no-one-part-of-the-brain-which-recognizes-or-responds/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [I think there is no culture in which music is not very important and central. That's why I think of us as a sort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/i-think-there-is-no-culture-in-which-music-is-not-very-important-and/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Who cared if there was really any Being to pray to? What mattered was the sense of giving thanks and praise, the feeling of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/who-cared-if-there-was-really-any-being-to-pray-to-what-mattered-was/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“unconscious motives may sometimes ally themselves to physiological propensities, of how one cannot abstract an ailment or its treatment from the whole pattern, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/unconscious-motives-may-sometimes-ally-themselves-to-physiological/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“We have, each of us, a life-story, an inner narrative — whose continuity, whose sense, is our lives. 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