Why Do Humans Make Music?

Human Ethnographers Cite Communication Precedents

Human beings are (almost) the only mammal species that possess both speech and music. Whales and dolphins communicate by sounds, wolves howl and singing birds know melodies. Speech communicates our thoughts to our fellow humans, but why do humans need music? Humankind 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 conveys those feelings to others.

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

Music's Historical Social and Religious Significance

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 on the Internet or in a disco, but at wedding parties, with dancing and music or at religious musical 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. The invention of the walkman made it possible to listen to music without sharing it with others. The Internet enables amateurs to share music and music videos with a worldwide public and even to earn money from it.

Human Ethnologists and Neurobiologists Speculate

What do scholars and professors tell us about the phenomenon "music?" German professor of psychiatry Manfred Spitzer authored a book entitled "Music in the Head." He takes a physical-neurobiological approach and explains how music is being generated from physical oscillations in the network of neurons (not surprising for a psychiatrist!).

Human ethologists and Nobel Prize winners Nikolaas Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz did research about many subjects, including flirting, playing behaviour of toddlers, and aggression and fighting in humans and animals, yet I wonder why they have published nothing about music. It would be a great theme for biologists: Do songbirds, whales and dolphins possess music, and why do wolves howl? Is it for finding a mate or to stabilize a group? Consider the gauntlet thrown...