Why Do Humans Make Music ?

Every single human being, male or female, handicapped or not, young or old, has a desire to sing and dance and to listen to music, just like everybody has a desire for food and drink, for sex and sleep.

Mankind uses music to express and convey feelings and to develop a feeling of togetherness. Different social groups have their own songs that give them an identity: the socialists have the socialist international, soccer and football clubs have their songs, nations have anthems. Music may express sadness, love, loneliness, happiness and so on, and so conveys those feelings to other people.

Some languages in Africa and the Chinese language use melody to differentiate between meanings, thus the border between music/melody and speech only is not always clear. Music consists of rhythm and melody; dancing goes according to the rhythm and singing according to the melody.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, music was closely linked with religion and church festivals, and our grandparents got to know their life/marriage partners, not like contemporary people on the Internet or in a discotheque, but at wedding parties, with dancing and music or at religious music events like Thanksgiving. Ever since the Stone Age, the best dancers and singers were favored by the opposite gender.

The invention of the record and the gramophone made it possible for the first time to reach out to a wider audience and made possible the rise of world stars like the Beatles. The invention of the walkman made it possible to listen to music without sharing it with others.