Why do we like music? – Part 1

Music seems to have a been a part of human culture since the beginning of culture itself. Earlier this year, researchers excavating caves in southern Germany found ancient flutes carved from mammoth ivory, subsequently shown via Carbon dating to be between 42000 and 43000 years old. This means we were making music at least as far back as the time when we shared the Earth with Neanderthals.  But why? There are several theories for how our proclivity for music-making might have evolved, but most likely is that it arose in parallel with language as both a means of communication and a force for social cohesion. Through song, dance, ritual and ceremony, music helped to bring the people of our tribes together. Music of the spheres The word music originally derives from mousa, the Greek word for muse (which I wrote about in a previous essay on artistic inspiration), revealing the classical belief that music was a gift from the gods. This connection with the divine and the associated idea of the heavens being imbued with some kind of inherent music of the spheres was picked up during the renaissance by composers (many of whom were commissioned by the church) as well as artists and poets such as John Milton, who in Arcades, spoke of, the heavenly tune, which none can hear Of human mould with gross unpurged ear. Although now a devout atheist, I have never lost my love of the ecclesiastical music in which, as an enthusiastic member of my school choir and orchestra, I was immersed throughout my childhood. Indeed, to this day, it...