why listen to music?

music is big business..you see it everywhere---ads, Superbowl halftime, radio, etc.....very important in movies to convey the emotion--feeling
it's emotional.....sad songs, happy songs, love songs....sad piano music in sad tv/movie scenes......some songs start out slow, get going, then the calm -----before the BIG EMOTIONAL drum or guitar solo action!!....whew!! feels good, no??it gets us going, high, emotional.....
why do we need-want these feelings?? is it some sort of survival--evolutionary thing?? are we like dogs getting petted?? oooo, that feels so good!!....pet me again...?
they do say happy people are healthier, generally speaking...this is just common sense....we need to feel good to survive longer ...???..we need those feel good feelings.....? it's better than just being like a ''robot-animal''?

 

No expert on the matter, but yes it certainly is evolutionary...there are tones that lift emotions and those that depress the mood...Mozart discovered the first, Beathoven the second...before language we used tones to convey the myriad of emotions we felt (along with body language)...we have used drums, even if a stick on a log since we were early humans...this to convey messages to neighbouring tribes or the same tribe scattered about...we must also have grown up with bird song and calls...some quite melodic...
Modern music is just that, modern, sophisticated in its construct, but nevertheless standing on the shoulders of many before...
I'm sure music/beats are interconnected with dance...the two probably coming about at roughly the same time IMO...it's a form of self expression, something important to humans, and many other animals...

 

great points on the dance connection and the historic aspect.....the dance connection is super interesting....the sound, hearing, body, emotional interconnection.......I feel myself ''moving'' with certain songs.....with the ''beat''....some people have better rhythm-dancing than others....women seem to be able to ''dance-move'' better than males, generally speaking..... they seem to want to dance more, no?

 

To me...dance is the lowest form of self expression...even babies dance.

 

Great thread! As a professional musician myself I'm always going to jump at the chance to discuss it. ;o)

I agree with this, and I think it's because of societal pressures against men dancing. It's not seen as "manly" or "appropriate", so many men may have shied away from their more base instincts at a fairly young age. The same is true of singing, for that matter. Young kids sing all the time; then they get a little older and by fifth or sixth grade the boys have been taught/learned through cues from older people that singing isn't very cool, and many stop. I remember in junior high how our music teacher used to try everything short of pulling teeth to get the boys to sing in class. The girls would do it much more readily.

I think somewhere along the line, boys are typically taught that things like dancing and singing are mostly for girls, lest they be seen as not an alpha-male type person for doing it.

 

I think you are right Bronk. From everything you do, there is music to narrate that activity and to evolve a thought process. When people work, play, read, write, many utilize music to, IMO, enhance productivity. When my students write, a play classical of the abovementioned composers. And as much as they say they hate it, lol, they ask for it when it's absent.

 

great reading and points.... all...thanks....Adam, I agree to a degree, but I think females are more in tune with dancing......, physically and emotionally......I'm listening to Barry Manilow now....aren't some people more adept at music making? like Rich Carpenter? etc....
but why the big love of music, now? we just like to get ''high'' ? it's like 'natural' to sing along or dance to the music

 

Dunno...Did he use basketballs?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik8jICj8juc

Now that is adept at making music.

 

reminds me of the old tap-dancing Takao...the humans need to be entertained......but why?

 

My guess:
Man has always tried to escape the humdrum and grief caused by everyday living.
Just as booze, drugs, spinning, self flagellation, meditation etc open doors of perception, music allows an escape from everyday pain/drudgery and perhaps allows a glimpse of the godhead.
Rock and Roll was under attack during the Elvis era by the religious right...Why?...i dunno.

 

great way to put it........but it seems to give us a ''high'' ..something physiological there.....the adrenaline needed to run or kill to stay alive ..???

 

Perhaps its connected to the sexual act...many animals "dance" as a luring technique...

 

definitely for humans...good call......those young singers really go overboard on the sex in their song videos/performances....Beyonce, and others, dress like they are strippers/whores.....and then they dance like it.....

 

They dance like women without inhibition, that's all...

 

How do you think my wife?

 

I play Phil Collins every Friday at work....started out as a joke....I'll put some on when I want to get going and ''feel good'', motivated....great input....it is not ''needed'', is it..?

 

Yeah, i now prefer talk radio to music when driving if there is anything interesting. Comedy stations are good too. Some old George Carlin or Lisa Lampagnelli etc. Laughter is the best medicine.

 

yes I do talk radio more than music...but there are not too many options... off topic, but I will say for sure, NPR is 'one-sided' and they getFederal money.!.

 

I think music connects us all, it is a universal language that everyone understand by how the music makes us feel. Happy, sad, tears of loss, tears of joy, rage, uplifting euphoria. But music is also extremely subjective. I personally could not live without music.