Mysterious origins of music

Music is one of humankind's most important cultural bases.

However, why it was created and how humans evolved to become music lovers is still a mystery to scientists. Charles Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory, guessed that music was created through marriage ceremonies. However, a new study has focused on the ability to convey messages and strengthen community relations , for example music for war, celebrating festivals .

Members of the research team, including psychiatrist Chris Loersch, of the University of Colorado - USA and Dr. Nathan Arbuckle, of the University of Ontario Technology, have made the point that music is used as a communication tool. believe in mental state for many individuals at the same time. As people increasingly have to adapt to living together in communities, many biological and psychological mechanisms have developed to be able to maintain the structure of the community.

Greek painting entitled Music Lesson - 510 BC.(Source: Wikimedia)

This research was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology . 'We hypothesize that music is one of the development mechanisms at the time,' said the two authors.

The above hypothesis is still difficult to prove but does not mean lack of scientific basis. Two scientists have cited evidence from a variety of studies, showing the relationship between the need to socialize with the social group and the tendency to be deeply affected by music. In it, there was a study observing the experiment with 112 adults, answering online survey questions. This study shows that people who are more inclined to try to integrate into the community are more vulnerable to music.

Another study aimed at making the surveyed subjects feel their community relations were threatened. As a result, their response to music became stronger. The reason for this reaction is because the test subjects desire to reestablish community relationships through music. Many other studies show the ability to enhance cooperation and empathy among children when playing music games together. The development of music leading to the establishment of social groups is also a strong demonstration.

The above studies still do not have strong evidence to confirm the musical theory was born from the need to strengthen social relations. However, this is one of the most plausible and interesting hypotheses to answer the many mysteries of music.