Words Are An Instrument

When I talk about sentence patterns and word choice, I can only ever describe them in musical terms. Maybe it's because of my musical background, but I really believe that you cannot separate music from words. Language itself is so intrinsically musical, and words are an instrument.

Think about the standard band. The instruments listed are usually Drums, Bass, Guitar, and Vocals. When people sing along to a song, they will treat the melody of the lyrics the same way they treat a melody on a guitar solo. In a very literal sense, words are treated like an instrument.

Listen to people speaking a foreign language that you don't know. You will not know the words, but you will still hear the music. There is a cadence, a rhythm, a sort of melodic structure. That's what makes monotone people upsetting to our ears; they are inherently unmusical

When you listen to a language that you do understand, you still hear all of those musical parts; you simply ignore them because you are focused on the meaning of the words being spoken, and also because the music is part of what the words are saying.

All of this is why I always tell people to speak their words. It can be during the writing process, or during review or revision. Just make sure that you hear what they sound like; it will be the strongest indicator to how they will be received by your audience.