Communication Beyond Language: Music

Staying on the note of communication, I want to look more in depth to language and how we can communicate more effectively even without language, specifically by looking at music.
An official definition of language: communication that combines symbols in rule-based ways to create meaning. My definition: words or signs that tell someone what you're thinking.  Now not to contradict myself, but the other day I realized that there are elements out there, other than words or signs, that can enhance what we want to communicate.  There are probably other elements, but the one that sticks out to me is music.  I began thinking about this over the past weekend when I went to Chicago to visit my friend, Cecelia Erholtz.  She attends Columbia College, a private performing arts college, and is a vocal jazz major.  Being a singer/songwriter, she was playing me one of her newest song and, as always, her music evoked deep emotions and conveyed a powerful message.  I then asked her how she managed to do this with each of her songs. Being the meek person she is, she just responded, "I don't know, I just write down words that I'm feeling and then pick up my guitar and it works, I guess."  I then asked to see her journal so that I could read the words and possibly figure out for myself how she makes her songs so powerful.  Now, to my surprise, when I just read the words, I did not feel nearly the same level of power that I did from the song.  I then asked her to just play the song without the words.  This also had a surprising effect on me, but opposite from the former.  I felt a much stronger emotion from the melody of the guitar than I did from the poetry of the words.  The melody that she played communicated more than the words did.  Which brings me to my point, we have the power to communicate in forms other than by words; we can communicate by music: guitar chords, piano keys, drum beats, etc. It really is a powerful concept when you think about it.  The fact that a beat can penetrate to our emotions and communicate a feeling just as much, and sometimes more than words can.
I'm sure almost everyone can relate to what I'm talking about here in almost any genre of music, not just Cecelia's music.  Although to give a specific example, I recommend "This year's love" by David Gray.  He writes about a simple concept that we can all grasp: hope, love, despair, but the way the melody combines with the words really enhances the meaning.  It really is a beautiful concept.