[SIZE=3]I’ve often wondered why music, or some rhythmic variation thereof, has been an intergral part of the human species since their appearance on earth.
Apart from the obvious, such as music’s soothing or stimulating qualities, it seems such a universal characteristic of humans that there must be an atavistic origin that has been hard-wired into our collective psyches. Forgetting whatever role music plays in our existence in modern times, going back to chanting, or whatever the cavemen did in the beginning, is there a part of the brain that dictates this need, like sex or food or shelter?
Well for comfort, security, and safety the womb is a tough place to beat. And WWOM plays nothing but heartbeat, all day, all night. I would imagine that becomes a pretty strong association.
Hmm…alittle of a high jack but it always seemed strange to me that humans have particularly keen sense of rhythm…wonders how this was influenced during evolution…
Welcome aboard willabee, but I don’t think we have any records of the continuous presence of music (or any other cultural behaviour) since the appearance of the human species on earth. In fact there’s no definitive and universally agreed date when this event occurred. Since this is in the General Questions forum, and since your question depends on it, could you provide any evidence to support this presumption?
Everton: " Since this is in the General Questions forum, and since your question depends on it, could you provide any evidence to support this presumption?"
You got me; I don’t have any evidence to support my presumption. It was an innocent extrapolation of what is known from musical references in ancient writings/glyphs, then applied to prehistoric man, to consider the possibility that it was of primordial origin, rather than a creation of civilized man.
By the way, your confrontational approach is hardly a welcoming gesture, or is it that you are the designated censor to ensure strict accuracy, backed up by evidence, in all posts? I find your tone arrogant and smacking of intellectual pomposity.
I just recently discovered that not all human beings like music – at least not on an individual basis. I just can’t imagine going through life without being uplifted by music.
It is not unusual for others to ask for evidence, links or cites here. I doubt that it was intended to be at all insulting and the wording of the question seemed straight-forward and non-aggressive to me.
The general level of intelligence here seems to be much higher than at most forums. So participants tend to be sticklers for absolute accuracy and intellectual integrity.
I don’t think anyone is suggestioning that you have intentionally mislead. We would just like to know how you arrived at your premise. It’s not usually a matter of arrogance but of exactness.