I was reading an obituary last week on the death of a well-known musician. It read how the death had "spread universal sorrow and commiseration throughout the musical community, " and continued, "It is on first recovering from a blow like the present, when we are enabled to contemplate the void which a man leaves in his art, that we truly appreciate his position and influence. The hand of death is an unerring index to service and desert; it settles all disputes and controversies with the questions - 'Where shall we find this man's successor?' 'How will music now fare?"

Before you conclude it was about the passing of country legend Johnny Cash, let me inform you it was about the great 19th century composer Felix Mendelssohn, who died 156 years ago. But it could have been about Cash, or any other great musician or singer we admire. I wasn't a great fan of Cash, but I did like him, however the reaction to his death last week made me begin to think about the impact music and musicians seem to have on us, and as the above quote reveals, the lives of music lovers throughout time.

I remember how devastated I was the night John Lennon was gunned down by a madman. Lennon and the Beatles were spokesmen for my generation, at least a good portion of the baby boomers who grew up left of center. I was always looking forward to new releases of their music and to this day can remember what I was doing when I heard each new song. Fellow Beatle George Harrison's passing also had a profound effect on me.

I also remember that the deaths of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra saddened some of my older friends, or the reaction of my younger friends to the death of Kurt Cobaine. Media coverage and analysis on all of these deaths varied from heart pounding remorse (Lennon) to distain (Cobaine). While I did like all their music, their deaths didn't affect me the way Lennon's did, or Cash. It seems that the music and those that write and perform it are more than just entertainers. They have been elevated to a different status. Music and its performers may be more important to society than we realize, or even care to think about. Do these Pied Pipers really have us in their spell?

What is it about music? How can some simple rhythms and beats have such an emotional effect on us? Why does it transcend cultures, ideologies, and ethnicities? Each culture creates their own instruments, sounds, and expresses themselves through their music. It has its own language that all cultures are able to understand.

Even armies charging up the battlefields have their drum and bugle corps charging right along side, and not missing a beat.

We've been making music for a very long time. In 1999, the oldest known musical instruments, 30 bone flutes, were found in a Neolithic site in China and were dated 9,000 years old.

Also that year, 2.5 billion units of music were sold worldwide. Last year, in the U.S., 688 million CDs were sold. There are 10,315 commercial AM/FM radio stations in the United States. Americans own 575 million radios. You can listen to the radio on the Internet and new satellite radio is being beamed to your home, car, or boat. We watch music as videos on MTV or VH1. We attend hundreds of live concerts each year. In fact last year, 17% of the adult population went to a musical (20% women). Twenty two percent of college grads attended a classical musical concert. We even have museums dedicated to musicians, music and its instruments.

I can be moved by Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor as much as Lennon's raw rendition of Dizzy Miss Lizzy. I can enjoy the buzz of a sitar from Ravi Shankar, the off tune renditions of Willy Nelson, and even the screaming fury of Linkin Park. So, it certainly has to be more than the musicians, or the culture, or the instruments that make us need and enjoy music.

Perhaps it's not complicated at all, but simply a primal need. Our body desires the sensation of various wavelengths of sound pounding on every nerve cell - each synapse in tune to a note. After all, even as a fetus, we are comforted by the rhythmic sounds of the beating heart of our mother. The need starts from the very beginning it seems.

So, the next time you're ready to shout down the car waiting next to you at the light because his rap music is "educating" the entire neighborhood, take a deep breath.

Turn on your radio, relax, and feel the music. It's good for you.