# Is singing and/or music universal?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-singing-and-or-music-universal/314780>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 29, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-singing-and-or-music-universal/314780 "2005-07-29T18:11:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ultraviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c77e96/32.png) [@Ultraviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ultraviolet)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-singing-and-or-music-universal/314780/1 "2005-07-29T18:11:17Z")

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A strange question that occurred to me the other day - Are there any known cultures (modern or ancient) that do not have any form of singing or music? It seems to be such a widespread thing, is it universal?

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**Author:** ![tygerbryght](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@tygerbryght](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygerbryght)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-singing-and-or-music-universal/314780/2 "2005-07-30T06:41:15Z")

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> [@Ultraviolet](#):
>
> A strange question that occurred to me the other day - Are there any known cultures (modern or ancient) that do not have any form of singing or music? It seems to be such a widespread thing, is it universal?

While waiting for a real anthropologist to show up …

I don’t recall any reports of such a culture through an entire major’s worth of anthro. OTOH, there is an entire sub-field of anthropology known as ethnomusicology.

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**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-singing-and-or-music-universal/314780/3 "2005-07-30T09:23:27Z")

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There’s certainly more than a ‘sub-field’ called ethnomusicology!!!

Although I’m as interested as anyone as to whether there’s an answer to the OP.

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**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-singing-and-or-music-universal/314780/4 "2005-07-30T16:47:42Z")

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In Dr. Oliver Sacks’ book [“The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat”](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684853949/qid=1122741642/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-3976704-5083235?v=glance&s=books) (or maybe it was [“An Anthropologist On Mars”](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679756973/qid=1122741642/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/002-3976704-5083235?v=glance&s=books)) he tells the story of a man who had a brain tumor and lost the ability to make new memories. The man was a [Grateful Dead](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000C23DO/qid=1122742168/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-3976704-5083235) fan, and when Dr. Sacks bought him the new GD CDs, he was able to learn the new songs. One might suggest that it’s simply a matter of repetition burning it into the brain, but I prefer to believe that there is a separate channel into the brain for music.

I’ve read other studies that suggest that music is inherently a part of our brains, but I can’t find any cites right now.