Discussion Why do humans like music?

I’m kind of sleepy and strange thoughts are rolling across my head.

Can someone explain to me why music evolved? What role does music play in anthropology? Why are different musical scales conserved across different societies across the world?

Why do certain arrangements of sounds seem nice? Has this always been true across human history? Does medieval music sound cool to you? Would ancient people think modern music is insane?

If an alien came to earth, would they think different things sound nice?

What is your current taste in music?

Why did you taste in music develop the way that it did? For instance, why not like punk rock? Or classical violin?

What were your major influences for your taste in music?

...okay I will end my text wall of questions here.

 

Music is the best!

 

*listens in with curiosity*
I will figure out your secrets, humans!

 

The sound of silence is music to my ears.
And yeah, I'm human.

 

*nods along*
silence is great!

 

Because of entrainment, the ability of humans to synchronize to external perceived rhythm. That gives rise to "human music".
A lot of it is related to how the human brain is wired ... quite different from other animals.

I'm not sure about "why" entrainment evolved though. Could've been a sociobiological adaptation (better fit with human communities), better hunting skills (since it's related to psychomotor areas of the brain), etc.


And here's a documentary showing the real life effects of music on human health (parkinson's, dementia, etc).

 

music indulges the most primal instinct in humans thats why.

 

Probably.

I mean, even people from Earth can't unify on it:
1. If people from different times in history come together, they'd think differently.
2. If people from around the world come together, they'd think differently.
3. If people with different tolerances for types of music come around.

E.g. for 1:
Classic music
vs
Jazz https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/beyond/jazz.html
vs
Techno/Step https://dailycollegian.com/2012/02/let’s-stop-pretending-we-like-techno-music/
E.g. for 2: Britney Spears music used as a pirate deterrent https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/29/britney-spears-navy-scare-somali-pirates
E.g. for 3: Baby shark song and a few others used as a homeless deterrent https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/17/us/baby-shark-florida-homeless-prevention-park-trnd/index.html

 

?

 

I plan on being a conductor, the music kind, and I can't imagine a life without music. I just grew up with it after I feel in love with the piano and violin I guess. I chose it, and although I like classical music, it's not like I don't dislike other genres, I like K-pop, anime OSTs, jazz, etc.

Uhh, I can answer some questions, but there are certain chords and notes that humans prefer. And tastes change by what's loved by younger generations.

All in all, I think music is vital. At least to me

 

I wasnt aware it was an actual song...
*retreats from this thread to allow for more relevant conversation*

 

To add a bit:
https://www.kqed.org/futureofyou/219070/for-deaf-tactile-sound-system-takes-music-beyond-the-vibe

 

It's not just humans

 

when ailens listen to human music

 

What can you expect, if you aren't born from a hatcher, your first 40 weeks in this world are at the rhythm of the heart (of your mother). Feelings of love, elation, fear, everything is passed to you by chemicals (hormones, mostly) and "music".

It's the soundtrack of your first days...

 

thought it would have something to do with heart beat natural rhythm.

note to self, watch these later

 

Too many questions so I’ll answer only one of them.

As the leading expert on aliens I can say for sure this would be the case. The majority of aliens have a different physiology to humans. The way they listen and the range of sounds/frequencies they can hear significantly varies to how we hear things. Therefore the sounds that please them could be completely different to what we like. I mean we’ve got an alien here that likes the sound of coffee being stirred. What a strange fellow. And no I’m not talking about myself.

I hope you’re satisfied with that answer. And now if you can just look here. That’s it just look at this device in my hand and don’t blink.
*flash* forget everything you read. You will not remember the words you read but you will know it was the best answer given to any question you’ve asked before.

 

Haha, yea I wondered about that myself .. rhythm of the universal, rhythm of biology, mathematical constants and all that jazz.

But the experiments they did with other animals was pretty convincing. Based on their studies, seems like animals can "follow" music (you strike a beat and they'll immediately imitate it), but they don't quite catch the beat (i.e. not predictive).
You know the kind ... when you hear 2 or 3 beats, somehow just "know" what comes next, and mentally synchronize it to coincide exactly with when the next beat is played.
Animals do understand their own basic rhythms, though nothing even close to complex human music.

 

Well, I played the violin at a ranch and all the cows liked it and drew near me. I played it to my cat and he absolutely hates it.
They also understand music it seems...they just have different tastes.

I'm into classical music because I've been trained in classical violin since I was a child. Since I understand music theory and whatnot I really like stuff that are intricate and make me marvel at their clever usage of instruments and stuff. Modern works are...quite lazy in that aspect.

Anyway, I like Beatles and whatnot, they are amazing. Some other select pieces of modern music I like too. Coming up with a good melody has nothing to do with how much you've studied music and stuff, you can never know what will sound good and what will sound bad. It comes to you naturally. The understanding of music comes into play after that so that you can expand upon that melody. Modern pieces don't really expand upon stuff like that much...or at all. They all run in the same basic principle and it's very predictable most of the time after you've only heard the chorus. So yea, I get bored easily. While classical music takes one melody and shows so many clever ways the composer expanded upon it that it's never boring.

Also, one of the best part of a song is the lyrics...at least that's what it seems like to me. But I don't give a shit about it so that's already like 30% of the song's value is wasted on me before I've even heard it.