Music and the mind
At first glance, this may seem like an unexpected topic. Yet, the German philosopher G.W. Leibniz was right when he suggested that music is how the human mind calculates itself. Music is a sequence of sounds imbued with meaning. However, not just any sequence of sounds acquires meaning. Only certain sequences, following specific laws, acquire meaning, primarily directed at the emotional activity of humans. A signal evokes emotion, emotion crystallizes into thought (an image, concept, or conclusion). Music is comprehensible (and deeply experienced) regardless of language or ethnicity because it carries non-verbal codes.
What came first: verbal or non-verbal codes? It's unclear. Likely, verbal codes, as they are easier to implement and more essential for organizing social structures. Music, it seems, is a later achievement of humanity, emerging in connection with religious rituals to induce similar and uniform states of consciousness. Thus, music serves a communicative function, alongside verbal language, pantomime, and mimicry (gestures, dances, etc.). In musical language, perhaps more than in verbal language, a universal object-oriented code is reflected. I believe that human consciousness is primarily musical, and only then verbal. The code of human thoughts and feelings should be sought in musical notes.
The verbal code is the subjugatorof the musical one, translating the emotional into a rational language. Human consciousness consists of two subsystems: the musical and the verbal. Their functions differ due to their varying degrees of goal-setting. The verbal system is selective, choosing specific goals, while the musical subsystem forms a range of variations for goal-setting. The verbal subsystem selects meanings from the musical subsystem, translates them into the language of goal-setting, retains them, and reproduces them when needed. A sequence of musical notes serves as a way to verbalize musical meanings.
What forms first: the musical or the verbal subsystem of consciousness? I believe the emergence of the musical subsystem occurs later and is related to the subordination of emotional activity to thinking. Thinking, as an organizing process, uses music to symbolize, retain, and, if necessary, reproduce certain emotional states and levels of wakefulness associated with it. Thus, experiencing music is closely linked to the organizing influence of thinking on emotional activity. Moreover, intuition and creative activity are also tied to the musical subsystem of consciousness. That said, I acknowledge that this question is ambiguous and requires more thorough analysis, which cannot be undertaken within the scope of this book.