Why Do We Like Music?

I admit, I know less about music than everyone I've ever met, which doesn't say much about my expertise on this topic; nor does it say much about how representative my social circles are as they don't comprise of a single deaf person. It's Ok, I can have a go at the hard of hearing because some of my best friends are...oh I see - none of them are deaf and I suppose that's sort of the issue isn't it? Oh well, maybe one of them will go deaf in the future or something.

I got that exact same frisbee

Anyway, while I don't know much about music, I still recognize the big names in the business like Jon Bovi, The Beetle, Coldplay, Cold Chisel, Ice T, Ice Cube, Vanilla Ice...umm...the woman who sings every James Bond theme song...yeah I think that's pretty much everyone who's ever created music ever. However, have you ever stopped to wonder exactly why we enjoy music? Why is it that when we hear certain sounds arranged in a particular order, such as Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, we get a pleasurable sensation; while other sounds like fingernails scratching the blackboard or Rebecca Black's voice can make our skin crawl?

How Popular Is Music?

The music industry generates 18 billion dollars a year in the US alone, which can roughly make up for a couple of days of losses in the cyrpto market. Historically, every recorded culture ever has had some form of music which suggests that music had in many cases began independently in isolated pockets of human civilization. This is quite the claim, for you probably couldn't say the same about agriculture, writing or anal sex. I made up that last one, but I bet no one from Canada has ever had anal sex, they just don't seem to be the type. The French, on the other hand, have always given me the impression that they're a group who never practice any other form of intercourse. But I'm getting off topic.

This picture clearly shows that music is responsible for global warming

For how ubiquitous music can be found among our species, it would be reasonable to assume that it confers some sort of evolutionary benefit. Much like our eyes allow us to perceive and react to our surroundings and our webbed hands allow us to drink soup at the dinner table without using a spoon, music should improve our survival or reproductive success in some way right? Unfortunately the science has yet to reach a consensus on this issue.

Evolutionary Reasons

Certain experts who are not Harvard Professor Steven Pinker, argue that our singing in the shower is akin to a mating call designed to attract the opposite gender so we may mate with them (in the non French way) and in turn pass on our genes. This does go some way to explain why successful music artists are generally considered to be more sexually attractive than, say, assiduous accountants in modern society.

However, other experts, such as Harvard Professor Steven Pinker, believe that there isn't any direct functional or adaptation advantage in music. Rather, our appreciation of music is perhaps just a by product of other evolutionary advantages such as sensitivity to speech, rhythm in muscular movement and social signalling. He theorizes that music is a amalgamation of a multitude of factors that has manifested into its own stimulus which ultimately defines what we experience when we listen to it.

Silent raves - When every venues other than the local library are booked out

Conclusion

While the reasons behind why we enjoy music is still contentious, its effects are palpable. Rarely do you see pregnant women playing the times tables over and over again to their unborn child in an rather vain effort to give them a head start in life, but swap in Mozart and it's all of the sudden perfectly normal. I find this to be cruel - it deprives them the ability to attribute their failures later in life to a lack of prenatal care. 'Maybe I could have amounted to something more than a sales clerk with a mild alcohol addiction if only my mother played me more Chopin when I was in her womb' is an excuse I couldn't imagine myself living without.

Like it or not, music will always be an inextricable part of our lives; especially that of Bono and friends, who'll, from time to time, find their way onto your iTunes playlist uninvited.

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Image Sources 1,2,3

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