"Rhythm and concord, after all, penetrate deeper down inside the soul than anything else; they take the most powerful hold on it, causing it to share the seemliness they bring with them – provided, that is, that its owner is being brought up exposed to the correct music, because if he isn’t, the effect will be the opposite. Again, the person who’s been brought up with the right kind of music will have the sharpest eye for things that are deficient, either because they are not well crafted or because nature has left them lacking; he’ll show a correct distaste for such things, and turn to praising and taking pleasure in the things that possess the requisite fineness, receiving them into his soul and taking nourishment from them, so becoming fine and good himself. He’ll correctly reproach and hate what is shameful even at a tender age, even before he’s capable of understanding speech; when he can understand it, he more than anyone will welcome it, recognizing it from its affinity to himself, if he’s been brought up musically like this.’
‘It seems to me, at least,’ he said, ‘that this is the sort of thing a musical upbringing is for.’"
- Socrates talking to Plato’s brother, Glaucon, in Plato's Republic, 401d-402a
The power of music
The power of music
The power of music
"Rhythm and concord, after all, penetrate deeper down inside the soul than anything else; they take the most powerful hold on it, causing it to share the seemliness they bring with them – provided, that is, that its owner is being brought up exposed to the correct music, because if he isn’t, the effect will be the opposite. Again, the person who’s been brought up with the right kind of music will have the sharpest eye for things that are deficient, either because they are not well crafted or because nature has left them lacking; he’ll show a correct distaste for such things, and turn to praising and taking pleasure in the things that possess the requisite fineness, receiving them into his soul and taking nourishment from them, so becoming fine and good himself. He’ll correctly reproach and hate what is shameful even at a tender age, even before he’s capable of understanding speech; when he can understand it, he more than anyone will welcome it, recognizing it from its affinity to himself, if he’s been brought up musically like this.’
‘It seems to me, at least,’ he said, ‘that this is the sort of thing a musical upbringing is for.’"
- Socrates talking to Plato’s brother, Glaucon, in Plato's Republic, 401d-402a