Music: An Invention vs. A Discovery (Part 3)

Hey everyone!

This post is actually the second part of the point made in "Part 1" of the blog series "Music: An Invention vs a Discovery". The argument was whether or not humans invented the idea of music, and to support my argument that we did not invent music (meaning, the idea of music already existed before we did), part 1 touched on the development of the first ear when mammals started walking on land.... before humans. This post is a continuation that exposes some very interesting research on how animals used what we would define as "music". Again, even though the part of my essay below states facts based on research, my argument is merely an opinion. This blog is open to discussion and other opinions if you see fit :)

"We now understand how mammals developed the ability to hear, before humans even existed. So it would make sense that with the ability to process sound came the ability to use it in creative ways to express themselves and communicate with other mammals and animals. The book “The Origins of Music” uses many examples of how animals, such as birds, primates, and whales, used sounds to communicate with each other. Even though animals used some sounds strictly for symbolic reasons, such as looking out for predators and food, there were other discoveries of “combinations of sounds” these animals made that had no symbolic value, which we categorized as music based on circumstance and the nature of the sound. One example the book uses involves chimpanzees and gibbons. One sound that chimpanzees make is called “pant-hooting”. The book describes the sound and their argument of how this sound may have musical value, “This is a loud, rhythmical hooting, typically about ten sounds in duration, beginning softly and working up to an almost screamlike climax... As recorded from different individuals and from the same individual in different circumstances, variation is substantial, but typically consists of four parts: introduction, build-up, climax, and let-down,” (Wallin, Nils Lennart, Björn Merker, and Steven Brown, pg 42).  Aside from the similar, yet distinctive, occurrences of this sound from one chimpanzee to the next, the author continues to explain the situation under which these sounds occur, such as when the chimpanzees gather, when they claim dominance, when they catch food, when they get excited, and sometimes they pant-hoot together, as if in a chorus, to “keep in touch with the forest,” (Wallin, Nils Lennart, Björn Merker, and Steven Brown, pg 42). As we already know, humans have close relation to both chimpanzees and gibbons. With that said, the development of the ear and the ability to create music did not begin with us, but with earlier animals such as the ancestors humans share (or may have shared) with the chimpanzees mentioned in this paper."