Mike
Carruthers:
As much as we find music enjoyable it also appears to be necessary.
For instance…
Daniel J.
Levitin:
All mothers instinctively sing to their children. We don't know
of any civilization now or at any point in history where mothers
did not sing to their infants - why would they do that?
Daniel Levitin,
author of the book The
World in Six Songs…
It seems to be
a way of reassuring the child. We are a species (especially
in the so-called cave-person days) we were hunter-gatherers
- the mother had to go out and help forage for food. She might
set the baby down and the baby needed to be reassured that she
was there - a vocalization can do that.
Another practical
use of music throughout human history is its ability to help
us remember.
If you needed
to remember how to build a canoe to make it watertight or how
to cook this certain plant material so that you wouldn't get
sick - it was essential that you got it right. And so far as
we know a lot of this kind of knowledge was embedded in song.
We still do have knowledge songs, how do most children learn
what the alphabet is?
Listening to
music has always had a soothing effect and may have health benefits.
And Daniel says it doesn't much matter what type of music.
I think that
it matters in terms of whether you like it or not. It's not
the case that hip-hop music is bad for you and classical is
good. What is the case is that if you find the music soothing
or relaxing or inspiring it's going to have these effects.
At somethingyoushouldknow.net
I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.
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