Music is literally everywhere. We are surrounded by it in our everyday lives, whether we realize it or not; it is like the air we breathe – something that is always there that we often take for granted without pausing for a moment to consider the meaning of it or where it came from. Having grown up in a very musical family and being a musician myself, I have always had a great appreciation for this art. The book This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel Levitin sparked my interest in learning about how music has influenced the history of mankind and the impact it has on our psychology.
Modern music is divided and subdivided into an innumerable set of genres and groups. The spectrum is broad, with each extreme being diverse and distinctive from the other. It is comparable to the hierarchy of classification for a species; for example, domestic horses and zebras are obviously different, however there are definitive similarities to the two species. Rap and classical music sound very dissimilar, but they both are classified as music.
Early music was often created and performed for religious rituals; public gatherings such as marriage, funerals, marching off to battle, etcetera; and to pass on historical traditions and stories from one generation to the next. Although there is reason to believe music existed during the early years of mankind, its influential qualities and uses were unclear until urbanization began in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Here, music consisted primarily of priests reciting incantations and chants to their gods. It was not until the Assyrians, whose gods were chiefly those of war, marched across Asia to battle tunes that music was utilized for things other than solely religion.
Music as a means for entertainment and pleasure first appeared in the beginning of the New Empire of Egypt. It sprung from the spiritual songs and music written to please and honor the many Egyptian gods. Each of the gods, from Osiris, god of the underworld, to Isis, goddess of love and war, to the many animal gods, often communicated with the people of the nation through musician-priests. The Greeks soon followed in the footsteps of Egypt, creating music entirely for social and enjoyment purposes.
Modern music revolves largely around entertainment, however it still plays a large role in religious practices as well. I find it intriguing how diverse music has become, and how dependant we are on it in our day-to-day lives without even realizing it. It follows us wherever we go – it is where we eat, sleep, at weddings and funerals, sporting events, the mall, virtually everywhere. As Americans, we statistically spend more on music than we do on food, sex, and prescription drugs. Quite a lot can about the mentality behind such a phenomenon. Human psychology has evolved alongside the evolution of music right from the beginning. In Daniel Levitin’s book This Is Your Brain On Music, he writes, “… not just our bodies but our minds are the products of millions of years of evolution. … Our minds coevolved with the physical world, changing in response to ever-changing conditions. … Researchers in [evolutionary psychology] believe that they can learn a lot about human behavior by considering the evolution of the mind. What function did music serve humankind as we were evolving and developing? Certainly the music of fifty thousand and one hundred thousand years ago is very different from Beethoven, Van Halen, or Eminem. As our brains have evolved, so has the music we make with them, and the music that we want to hear.” This powerful mind-altering art can be and often is used as a persuasive tool by filmmakers, advertisers, military commanders, and by parents in the common household. Our culture and mere existence has clearly been radically influenced by music, and will continue to do so for the rest of time.
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Wow, this is really cool. I'm a music major and this is exactly what I'm learning in my music history class!
ReplyDeleteOh that link was supposed to be to an article called "The Influence of Music in World History" by Frederick H. Martens. I must've done the hyperlink wrong or something. Oops.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting topic. There is huge amount of history on every common day topics that many might not know about and I enjoyed reading your article.
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