Presumably music is an essential part of human evolution or it wouldn鈥檛 be there, but why?
Ros Groves
Watford, Hertfordshire, UK
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The evolution of music is an elusive yet tantalising subject as, unlike skeletons, sounds don鈥檛 leave fossilised remains. The oldest known musical instrument is a 40,000-year-old flute made from bird bone, which predates the earliest known examples of written language by thousands of years, suggesting that music may have preceded language.
Fast rhythmic clapping and banging of sticks along with high-pitched howling could have been used by primitive communities in a form of 鈥渨ar rehearsal鈥�, symbolising readiness for an imminent attack by a rival group. Conversely, slow drumming and low-pitched murmurings could have been a signal for safety and sleep. Different pitch combinations could have marked apart one community from another so that each community had its own personal 鈥渢une鈥� by which they identified themselves.
As farming communities grew and language developed, music became an art form in itself, not only to represent and recreate different emotions as is the case today, but also to inspire cooperation and hierarchy.
Turn-taking, characteristic of much music, may well have reflected the division of labour within the group, reinforcing the need to know when to be passive and when to be active. Indeed, music was available to and practised by all, with no emphasis on virtuosity, but merely as a means for communities to simply enjoy themselves and to bond.
Garry Trethewey
Arkaroola, South Australia
This is an interesting idea that has been mooted in various forums, including this magazine. But it is a big jump going from something being there to it being essential.
There is a notion that appears in various guises that because some property or quality exists in a living organism, then it must be functional, or necessary, or even 鈥減erfectly adapted鈥�.
My hair has the property that it can be cut into various hairdos and dyed various colours, but I doubt that is an essential part of evolution. The ability or inability to smell asparagus in urine or to curl one鈥檚 tongue can hardly be an essential part of evolution.
The ability of many people to do maths, to pollute our planet or to ski is obviously not an essential part of human evolution
The ability of many people to do maths, to pollute our planet or to ski is obviously not an essential part of human evolution.
I submit that all these things are adventitious side effects 鈥� some property exists that allows these things, but they weren鈥檛 necessary in our evolution. Some might actually be dysfunctional, like cancer or appendicitis. They exist, but not in such abundance that the species is wiped out.
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