The author is a music critic and director of the classical music brand Poongwoldang.

Singing is the oldest and most fundamental form of music. It needs no instruments. It does not need to be long. It does not need to be elaborate. If it is easy to follow along, even better. It can exist without words, carried only by a hum. Singing is the minimum form of music that even the untrained can hold, and like a childhood lullaby, it lies at the foundation of the human heart.



Perhaps that is why singing still attracts the largest number of listeners. Whether in sacred choral works, symphonies, jazz standards or pop music, a voice is rarely absent. Instrumental genres in classical music developed into diverse structures and forms, yet neither composers nor audiences have ever lost their longing for song.

A cappella refers to singing without instrumental accompaniment. The absence of instruments does not make it less of a song; it remains whole on its own, so the music does not disappear even in solitude. A song without words is an instrumental work that sings without a text. Emotion alone carries the line beyond speech, allowing sincerity to travel without language. A vocalise uses only a single vowel sound. It conveys no concrete meaning, yet its emptiness allows emotion to fill the space more completely.

Even when something is missing, song is not taken from us. There is meaning in that absence. The mystery of music that moistens time does not arise only from grandeur, spectacle, technique or a sense of heavy intent. A song remains a song even without lyrics, without a human voice or without articulated language. It is striking. When the body resonates and the heart stirs, what we hear is the soul contained in that vibration.

We soothe, comfort, smile, cry and call out in longing through song. We recognize song as song because there is a soul within us that reaches out to meet the echo of another soul.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.