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dmazzoni t1_ixjd5me wrote

Because of evolution.

Why did our distant ancestors develop ears? Perhaps as a way to warn of approaching danger.

It's not that our distant ancestors wanted to grow ears. That's not how it works.

Some random mutation led to some organ that could detect pressure waves in air, and the brain learned to interpret that as "sound". That was a huge evolutionary advantage, so that trait survived.

Later, our ancestors developed the ability to discern between different animal sounds.

And even later than that, our ancestors developed the ability to communicate via speech.

Again, none of this was "planned". But random genetic mutations led to abilities that were advantageous to humans winning out, and that included the ability to hear.

One of the ways the genetics worked out is for certain sounds to be more pleasurable / enjoyable.

Why?

Maybe it was so we'd enjoy the sound of other humans. Maybe it was so that we'd march together with other humans because we like the sound of marching.

We don't know for sure why. But the end result is that our brains are wired to enjoy certain sounds and patterns of sounds, because it was an evolutionary advantage for us to do so.

Music is just exploiting those patterns. Coming up with new sounds and patterns that tickle the human brain.

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ikidre t1_ixk6m70 wrote

Before you get downvoted because "cuz evolution," I researched a hypothesis as an undergrad that described a potential social advantage stemming from music perception.

Most primates' social group size is limited, among other things, because you can only keep so many relationships going smoothly. Mutual grooming is probably the most common conflict resolution activity. There are others, but the point one paper made was that they're one-on-one sort of activities. But what if an activity was sound-based? The hypothesis centers on the idea that music, singing, and dancing were critical in exploding the maximum number of humans in any one social group since it gave them all something pro-social that they could do together at the same time.

Think about it: we don't just like music, we share music. We gather in huge arenas to experience the same beats. We have formal dancing as the basis of traditional and romantic social functions. Music can be social glue.

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