Nexus Between Music, Human Soul and Personality Formation: Contexts From a Nigerian Perspective

Abstract

Music is an important element in almost all societies of the world. Music is played almost everywhere that there is human endeavour. People opt to listen to music that resonates with them and appeal to their inner senses. Each individual has their own unique taste for music and preference for certain kind of music. Music is something that everyone enjoys listening to as it refreshes the soul and keeps the human mind active. It also helps to reflect the kind of personality that an individual has formed, is forming, or is likely to form due to the repeated exposures to certain music genres. This paper therefore intends to establish connections among music, the human soul, and the formation of human personalities through the influence of music. It is hoped that an understanding of this can help to identify the strength of music on the human personality and to be consciously aware of the kind of music individuals intentionally and unintentionally get exposed to. The paper also explores music preferences from the context of Nigerian music listeners and its implications on the context of their social interactions and personality development.