Why we love music

Even five year old kids celebrate Valentine’s day the world over every year on Feb 14^th. However, only a few people know that Feb 12^th this year is the 200^th birth anniversary of Charles Darwin and that 2009 is also the 150^th anniversary of his celebrated book, “On the origin of species.” The theory of natural selection needs no introduction – simply put, it forms the foundation of most of biology today. In addition, it is one of only two things I remember from my school biology classes (the other being curious diagrams of some parts of human anatomy ).

But, why commemorate Darwin’s birthday here on Phulki? You see, one of the most enduring mysteries baffling human kind has been the question: “why music?” Of course, one answer to it is evolutionary. Darwin himself is said to have expounded on the reason that could explain why an average American teenager spends between 1.5 and 2.5 hours daily (i.e., 1/8^th of his waking life) listening to music. According to Darwin, in his book “The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex” published twelve years after his most famous book, musical ability is sexually selected and hence serves a key evolutionary purpose…

Music is sexy

Of course, nobody can deny that music done well is sexy – remember this song from Alisha Chinoy? What Darwin is saying is that it serves as a signal from the musician to potential mates and even to same sex competitors of his or her prowess. Looking at it another way, musical ability is an inherent signal for reproductive fitness: unfit people can’t sing or dance well or play music well. Hence they are less courted by the other sex and would therefore get weeded out over time. One strong support for this theory comes from the fact that music has evolved in other species such as birds and whales too by the same process of sexual selection. Further support comes in my mind from vague memories of my being jealous of those guitar-wielding college mates who had the pretty girls literally swing to their tunes…

Though anecdotal evidence linking music to sexual success is strong, the Darwinian theory of the origins of music is a bit controversial. At the very least, I think that the evolutionary argument is incomplete. I really like listening to Jagjit Singh and I am not gay (I do like Chitra Singh even more). Music clearly sates an appetite that nothing else can. And it has a powerful ability to sway emotions. That some songs evoke sadness (doesn’t this?) while others evoke joy (remember this?) or plain disgust (this one surely) can’t be disputed. Recently, neurologists have even identified six ways in which music affects emotion by triggering signals in different parts of the brain. There is even something called Music Therapy which identifies the benefits of fast tempo music on increasing concentration and slow beat music on calmness. (So it is not the most intelligent idea to listen to songs like this to motivate yourself for work on a Monday morning.)

The multiplicity of effects of music suggests that it may be both a glorious accident and an invention – put together by bits of pre-existing machinery and then “fine-tuned”, likely even sexually selected. Well, whatever… Bottomline, my advice to all of you reading this would be to play it safe and not mess with Darwin. So go out there and learn to sing well and play an instrument if you can. In the meantime, you can always search for your favourite songs and listen to them or share with your friends whenever and whatever you want on Phulki.

Finally, my sincere wishes to everyone in finding the fittest mate of their choice. Darwin always believed that to be the ultimate evolutionary purpose.

Happy 200^th Charles!

(Credit: This blog post is inspired by an article on the topic of origins of music in the Dec 30, 2008 edition of the news magazine ‘The Economist’)