Bài 37

Whether we are professional artists or not, the creative arts play an important role in ours lives. Through the attention we pay to colors, materials, shapes, and sounds when we select ours clothes and decorate our homes, our creative instincts are continually at work as we express our identity and make our mark in the world.
It is also through creativity-through the language of music, for example-that people reach out and connect with each other. Music allows people to share emotions and feelings that are common to all of us. It is also a comfort in or a refuge from a world that is sometimes cruel and hard to understand.
Read this information, and then discuss the questions that follow with a partner
One of the most difficult realities that people must face is the destruction and cruelty of war. In recent years, the suffering of the city of Sarajevo in the former republic of Yugoslavia inspired artists and others to come to its aid. Sarajevo, once a prosperous, tolerant city where people of many backgrounds lived together in peace, became a city torn apart by war and ethnic rivalry. Sarajevo has come to represent the struggle of the human spirit to maintain its dignity in the face of hatred and destruction. The first reading in this unit, which combines the beauty of music with the sounds of war, grew out of this struggle.
1. What role does music play in your life?
2. Has it been a source of comfort or help through a difficult period?
3. In addition to comfort, what other emotions does music invoke?