No one knows why humans like music; why dopamine floods our brains when we hear certain patterns of sound and tempo. Scientists are conducting research on the subject.
One surprise, for me at least, was to learn that some animals enjoy music. The music should resonate with their heartbeats and play at natural, species-specific pitches and timbres.
It takes effort to create the music animals like. And they won’t pay for it. Even pets—most of them, anyway—don’t self-identify as music lovers.
As far as I know, only one species take the time to create tools to play music: homo sapiens. But many animals such as gibbons, birds, whales, insects—even the dog next door—make noises that sound suspiciously like music to most people. Research continues.
Music is not something that exists in the universe apart from conscious life. Music seems to require a conscious mind to produce and another more or less semi-conscious mind to hear and appreciate it.
The sensation of pleasure initiated by vibrations of air entering the ear canal is the result of auditory hallucinations created in the mind. Air molecules bounce off structures in the ear to stimulate the brain to manufacture mysterious sensations called sound, which unleash an avalanche of chemical (emotional) reactions inside the body of the listener.
Many parts of the brain are involved in music appreciation. It is known, for example, that the visual, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory areas of the brain are stimulated by music. Research is ongoing—with special emphasis on definitions of words like olfactory and gustatory.
There seems to be no similarity between the simple vibrations entering the ear and the complex and textured mental experience the brain makes when it processes these vibrations to conjure music. It might be sad for some to learn: when life in the universe comes to its end, it will take music with it.
Most people did not hear much music before the invention of the phonograph in 1877. What music they heard was played by itinerant flute musicians and the occasional wood-nymph on tambourine.
It took decades for the phonograph to become enough widespread to impact the listening habits of average people. As the technology of music became more sophisticated and pervasive, its mystery and wonder inspired scientists to try to figure out just what the hell is going on!?!.
Current research suggests that as many as 4% of humans do not enjoy music. Whatever the process that is not going on in their heads, it seems to be inherited. Some people simply lack the genetic coding required to process the pleasures of music. If all life mimicked these unfortunates, the concept of music might cease to exist.
Some have said that folks wouldn’t miss it. Music is not necessary for our survival, they say. Humans have lived on Earth for tens-of-thousands of years without any but the most primitive forms.
That might be. But its irrepressible popularity during the past 50 years in all parts of the world is proof enough. People prefer music. It’s going nowhere.
Here’s some music to help persuade skeptics that music is special:
https://youtu.be/EQ9ftKMWTW4
Billy Lee
Update: 5 July 2016: When Billy Lee wrote this essay two years ago, he was naive; he didn’t know about the dark side of music. Recently he learned that music has been used by intelligence agencies since the 1980s to torture detainees.
Imagine being forced to listen to old sound tracks from the Lawrence Welk Show over and over. It’s a sordid, terrifying prospect. Billy Lee didn’t want to soil his essay by discussing it.
Alex Ross’s article in the 4 July 2016 issue of the New Yorker Magazine ripped open the underbelly of this stinking carcass of evil. Ross titled his essay, The Sounds of Hate.
Since then, links to the essay have been retitled to When Music is Violence. No one at The Pontificator knows why the print version and the Internet version are titled differently.
Billy Lee asked that we provide a link for readers who might want to know more.
The Editorial Board