Music is used for all sorts of events – community, spiritual, political, and social, to name a few – all over the world, all the time. Wired online tells a fascinating story today that may strike a delicious chord with many of us. So says some recent research, playing music in the background can deeply influence our perceptions about wine. It’s one of many stories about music as a sense-enhancer. Music enhances our tastes of food in restaurants, and as Shakespeare tells us, music is intertwined with our symbols of love and expressions of passion, too.

So music doesn’t simply have to exist in the background of our lives – it can, and should, be viewed as a tool for how we express ourselves. Through food, wine, merriment, and more. Of course, it all depends on how we use music to achieve these things. That’s where the community comes in. Music doesn’t do much if it’s kept in isolation; it requires others to hear it, others to share it, spread it, listen to it, and engage with it.

To whatever purpose you ascribe your music, it’s there for something beyond our own isolated studios and headphones. We create it to share, to enlighten, to experience, in ways that nothing but music can accomplish. After all, that’s a big part of why we’re here, right?