I studied the hypothesis that music is the product of our evolution and that most mammals and cultures have used music to continue to evolve and reform. Most scientific articles agree that music has evolved throughout thousands of years. Even the first Homo sapiens used music as a mode of communication. But in a biological standpoint, music can be used as a way to express mate selection, as a way of motivation and pleasure, development and learning, and social communication. The big question that might be asked here is that why is music so loved and powerful in such a way that can allow us to feel certain emotions, such as love or anger? One scientific study can answer that. “Scientists who study how music is processed in the brain …show more content…
El). ” It was determined that cells may shift as a response when a certain tone is determined as important. This is noted as Training Frequency, where cells will shift and expand in response to a certain tone. This perception and response to music has been said to have started in infancy. Even before babies have acquired language, they begin to react to music. This is why parents and other people communicate with infants in a musical manner by using wide ranges of pitch and melodies. This “Musical learning ability” in infants improves cognitive ability and communication that can help later on in a lifetime of a human. Overall these studies reveal that music has a biological basis more than anything. It has been revealed that the brain specifically has a functional organization for music such that certain regions may light up and respond to certain frequencies. Some other studies may be opposed to this theory. Music may be seen in other species. For instance, “learning song in birds, whales, and other species might represent convergence to music in humans whereas determining by apes might represent potential homology.” (Snowden et al.) Basically, it is studied that music has emerged through an evolutionary standpoint between other species. For example, one species, the grey mouse lemur, produces loud, noisy, and plosive grunts when startled, which notifies
To understand why music is a product of human intention and perception, we start by defining or understanding the nature of music. Music is defined as the sounds or combination of vocals and instruments in a way that it produces a form of beauty, expression, or harmony of emotions. Arguably, people compose or make music through many ways (Resnicow, Joel E., 20-29). While some people might compose music without incorporating instruments, others use instruments to produce beats that match with their sounds. However, to argue that the
For as long as mankind has walked on this earth, music has been an important part of our culture and lifestyles. Each walk of life beats to a different drum. Different cultures use music for many aspects of their lives; for religious purposes, for celebrations, for comfort, for sorrow, for relaxation, for sports, for dances, for energy, for learning, for sleeping, and for sexual experiences. Everyone uses music for something. Music connects with people and reaches them in ways that words simply cannot. Music is a representation of what feelings sound like. It expresses emotion and brings that characteristic out from within us; it tells us a story. Every generation has its’ own sound and different music styles have emerged and become
Music is remarkable for its special nature, which it is heritability. Music itselfs does not only give all music notes but innovation and inspiration from
Music is an art form that appears in every culture of the world. For thousands of years it has been an important part of the human experience. Music has been used for entertainment, as a way to pass on stories, and as a form of artistic expressions.Each person has their own preference of music of music they like, but most people like music in some form. Music has also been used by therapists patients with mental and physical health issues and achieved good results.
In every culture known to human there are different forms of musical expression. Although nonhuman primates can’t produce music, they have very similar auditory structures, perception and behavioral responses. Humans say that music has an effect on social arousal and mood, similarly chimpanzees show an increase in social behavior and a decrease in agonism when music is played to them. Evidence shows that human and nonhuman primates have an ability to distinguish music properties such as the types of rhythmic or melodic organization. Although primates exhibit and ability to distinguish between rhythmic structures and show a preference for slower tempos, it is unknown if they have a preference for rhythmic patterns. Humans and Chimpanzees prefer consonant music over dissonant music.
For instance music can bring back long forgotten memories, or give an athlete the drive to push harder while training in the gym. Brattico and Pearce show that the reason for this lies in the neurological effects that music has on the human mind (2013). The reason for these affects is the way that music affects different parts of the brain like the amygdala, and the auditory cortex (Brattico). By affecting theses parts of the brain music has been shown to have an influence previously thought to only known to be associated with visual stimuli (Brattico). According to Saarkillio, Vuoskoski, and Luck there is even an element of communication in music that is almost like communicating emotions (2014). Silverman states we connect certain tones and tempos with certain feelings, for instance a ballad is almost always played in a minor key with a slowed tempo, and conversely we connect a major key and a quick tempo with feelings of happiness
The brain reacts to listening to music by releasing dopamine. The dopamine was released when someone was feeling their best(when listening to their favorite music). Researchers also found out that dopamine was released in response to things like food and money, but also things like love, which cannot be touched. The amount of dopamine raised up 9% when someone was listening to the music they liked, so music was found pleasurable because the brain thought it to be a ‘reward’. This is why we enjoy music so much, but we still don’t really understand why the brain does it. Researchers used a large amount of volunteers to see what music does to the brain, but only eight of them showed any physical sign of dopamine being released. These volunteers
253). The author proposes that music preceded language. Levitin explains how the creative brain was favored by evolution and natural selection. Natural selection is defined as “the process by which the forms most fit to survive and reproduce in a given environment do so in greater numbers than others in the same population; more than survival of the fittest, natural selection is differential reproductive success” (Kottak, 2013, p.18). All of our ancestors lived long enough to pass their genes down to the next generation, so the author proposes that we love music today because we inherited this preference from our ancestors who survived and reproduced due to their creative and artistic
Music originates from all over the world since the beginning of time. Complex or simple, fast or slow, loud or soft. It’s what you feel. It could be your method of escape or keeping you living. Music is love. Music is passion. Music is unity. Music is emotion. Music is belief. Music is beauty. Music is life. Music is perfection. Music is imperfection. Music is peace. “Through music we can live forever.”
If music reveals emotions, it is not a normal emotion like any other (Stecker 273). The expression in music can be considered a traditionalized phenomenon (Stecker 273). There are common questions about
Thesis: Music is a unique form of sound powerful enough to manipulate mood, feelings, and cognition.
As the combination of different sounds travel through out ears, we tend to connect music with certain emotions or memories. For example, to feel that adrenaline rush we select a more upbeat tone in music. If you want a relaxed mood, you listen to something nice and calm with a relaxing melody. According to an article by Mental Health Center, students at Penn State did a study on music and emotions; they showed that people’s emotions have a more positive attitude after they listened to music. Music has a great
“Evidence suggests that music remains just as essential to the human race now as it did 70,000-80,000 years ago.” (Harvey, 2011) Music, song, and dance as art forms have completely integrated with the art works to tell a whole story of the human culture, its history, and its beliefs. The art of music implements cohesion among a society and acts as a framework to our social architecture. “For many, the evolution of art in Homo sapiens is a unique event that is linked to the evolution of the cognitively modern mind.” (Harvey, 2011) As the human mind has evolved, so has art. Sounds, especially music has had a direct effect on the evolution of mankind. Recent studies have shown how the mnemonic structure of music aids and promotes memory, learning, and the organization of knowledge. It is also proven to add structure to time. Cultures and the human species have continued to do and create art over several time periods because it allows humans to not only
Music itself is considered as a language. Music and language are related in many ways. Because music stimulates our sense of hearing, it is clear that music can, and inevitably does, convey information. I consider that music is, by its very nature, has the power to express everything, whether a feeling, an attitude of mind, a psychological mood, a phenomenon of nature, etc. Although it can be said that music usually tends to express something, this is only an illusion, and not a reality. It is precisely this, which produces in us a unique emotion which has nothing in common with our ordinary sensations and our responses to the impressions of daily life. Music expresses, at different moments, serenity or liveliness, regret or triumph, fury or delight. It expresses each of these moods, and many others, in a numberless variety of differences. It may even express a state of meaning for which there exists no adequate word in any language. In that case, musicians often like to say that it has only a purely musical meaning. They sometimes go farther and say that all music has only a purely musical meaning. My own belief is that all music has an expressive power, some more and some less, but that all music has a certain
Music elicits an emotional and cognitive response in all who listen to it. It is powerful at the individual level because “it can induce multiple responses – physiological, movement, mood, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral” (Francis, 2008,