How Did Humans Start Making Music?

 by Siha Hoque

The average person spends approximately 18 hours a week listening to music. In the modern day, with many complex genres and the ability to stream music almost anywhere, people have no reason not to enjoy listening to songs they enjoy. It has become a way to brighten boring tasks, to cope with strong emotions, to add atmosphere to a movie or to boost morale - music serves many purposes in our lives.

Music however has been part of human life for many years. The recognition of rhythm and manipulating it to communicate and even for enjoyment, was a milestone in the cognitive abilities of prehistoric humans in their evolution. Additionally, this has existed in the natural world between parents and children for a long time - melodic noises and repetitive sound patterns would have been used to interact with one’s offspring at a young age. It is likely the recognition of rhythm and repetition and the subsequent usage of the noises originated when stones and objects began to be used as tools - during the Old Stone Age, or Palaeolithic period of human history. Early music made by primitive instruments would have been blunt noises made by impact: clapping, hitting rocks together, cracking seeds. Then more complex instruments began making an appearance, and air was used to create sound. Archaeologists discovered the oldest musical instrument - at least 40,000 years old - a flute, carved from a bone from a bear’s thigh, and pierced to have several holes. Several of these have been found made from the bones of vultures as well. 

Since then, music has developed as humans began to further utilise their surroundings not only for practicality but also for enjoyment; instruments became more complex and sounds began to be recorded and replayed. 

Some forms of early music originated to serve a purpose. It is theorised by many archaeologists that it was also used to communicate the same way noisier animals did. The earliest melodies humans made using their voices - similar to singing - could have been based on hearing birdsong. Having witnessed the way birds would twitter to each other and then respond by taking flight, it is possible that humans began to make similar noises in order to signal to each other when danger was near, or when hunting for food.

However, why did early humans learn to enjoy music so much, when experiences and emotions were less intricate - modern songs are usually based on concepts that are highly unlikely to have existed then - why were certain noises, rhythms and patterns emotive and enjoyable for us? 

When we listen to music, it is typically enjoyed most when it can be associated with a positive personal experience - or perhaps when it offers a sense of validation for a negative one - therefore it triggers a release of dopamine (which can act as a hormone that makes you feel good or rewarded). Sometimes, even just the thought of the song or the initial melody can trigger the release of the hormone. Based on the lifestyles of early humans, the noises that may have been their equivalent of music would have been made while making tools, or preparing food, or socialising with others. This could have resulted in an association between those actions and the sounds, resulting in humans feeling happy or comforted in response to certain noises.

A lot of our present day habits that are seemingly fully modern have roots going back very far into the past, proving to us that over time we have evolved and changed in numerous ways, yet perhaps not as much as we once thought.