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Come One, Come All : The Benefits of Music-Making Within the CommunitySince prehistoric times, music has played an important role in the community. We know that 50,000 years ago humans first started creating art in the form of cave paintings and jewellery and that it was around this time that they also began to ceremonially bury their dead. The emergence of these types of intentional activities imply that music must also have emerged at the same time and indeed findings from paleolithic archaeological sites 1 reveal that prehistoric people used a variety of tools to create musical instruments, suggesting that music was indeed significant to early communities.
Originally it would have been sounds rather than our more modern conception of ‘music’ that was produced within these prehistoric communities. Animal bones would have been banged together and horns blown to create sounds that fulfilled a range of functions; to warn of danger, to call individuals together and to mark key events in the life of the community. These primitive sounds would have evolved into more recognisable patterns of music as human cognition developed and instruments became more refined.
The History of Music and CommunityBecause music is pre-lingual it, along with prehistoric art, was one of the earliest forms of communication and this is why music was not just inseparable from early communities, but was absolutely integral to positive community relations. In fact anthropologists have now proven that early cultures with a strong musical tradition thrived whereas other cultures without a musical tradition struggled to survive2 .
One reason for this is because music evokes strong emotions and heightened states of awareness. We associate strong emotions with evolution3 (reproduction and survival) and this is why traditionally societies with a musical culture have been better able to flourish, because the music coordinates their emotions, helps important messages to be communicated and motivates individuals to identify with and to support other members within their community4 .
The Importance of Music for Human Social DevelopmentIn addition to its important role in the development of community, music also plays an important part in individual human social development, specifically in the early years. Indeed as David Francis of The Performing Rights Society states, music ‘stimulates foetuses and infants in such a way as to promote their well-being’5. This is because modern music is thought to have originated from early interactions between mother and child known as ‘motherese’. Motherese is observed when adults with child caring responsibilities, specifically mothers, communicate intention and meaning to their babies using vocal-gestural communication.
The function of motherese is to strengthen the bond between adult and baby and to help the infant to acquire language. Remarkably, motherese is similar across cultures despite differences in language, and these early interactions between mother and child have been found to have ‘an essentially musical quality’6. Playing musical instruments, singing or listening to music therefore invokes strong feelings of wellbeing in the individual, even if only at a subconscious level, because it reminds us of our infancy and our connection to others. This is why even as adults, music is vitally important to our continuing personal and social development.
Playing musical instruments (as opposed to simply listening to music) is particularly important for human social development because music making is fun and uses different skills to the ones that most people usually employ on a day to day basis. This means that making music is relaxing and can relieve feelings of stress and anxiety. In fact there is now a growing body of research which demonstrates that playing musical instruments is really good for you in terms of both improved physical and mental health7.
Research from 2001 has shown that improved mental and physical health in the individual increases their capacity for social integration8. This is because when an individual feels positive, relaxed and confident they are much more able to integrate with other members of their community. This in turn strengthens the community as a whole because when all the members of a community are fully integrated each individual is able to contribute a diverse and unique set of skills and talents to that community.
It can therefore be seen that the benefits of music in this instance are two fold- it firstly improves the social development of the individual by increasing their feelings of well being and connectedness, but it also has the secondary benefit of increasing that individual’s ability to then integrate within their community which results in a stronger community for all of its members.
Originally it would have been sounds rather than our more modern conception of ‘music’ that was produced within these prehistoric communities. Animal bones would have been banged together and horns blown to create sounds that fulfilled a range of functions; to warn of danger, to call individuals together and to mark key events in the life of the community. These primitive sounds would have evolved into more recognisable patterns of music as human cognition developed and instruments became more refined.
The History of Music and CommunityBecause music is pre-lingual it, along with prehistoric art, was one of the earliest forms of communication and this is why music was not just inseparable from early communities, but was absolutely integral to positive community relations. In fact anthropologists have now proven that early cultures with a strong musical tradition thrived whereas other cultures without a musical tradition struggled to survive2 .
One reason for this is because music evokes strong emotions and heightened states of awareness. We associate strong emotions with evolution3 (reproduction and survival) and this is why traditionally societies with a musical culture have been better able to flourish, because the music coordinates their emotions, helps important messages to be communicated and motivates individuals to identify with and to support other members within their community4 .
The Importance of Music for Human Social DevelopmentIn addition to its important role in the development of community, music also plays an important part in individual human social development, specifically in the early years. Indeed as David Francis of The Performing Rights Society states, music ‘stimulates foetuses and infants in such a way as to promote their well-being’5. This is because modern music is thought to have originated from early interactions between mother and child known as ‘motherese’. Motherese is observed when adults with child caring responsibilities, specifically mothers, communicate intention and meaning to their babies using vocal-gestural communication.
The function of motherese is to strengthen the bond between adult and baby and to help the infant to acquire language. Remarkably, motherese is similar across cultures despite differences in language, and these early interactions between mother and child have been found to have ‘an essentially musical quality’6. Playing musical instruments, singing or listening to music therefore invokes strong feelings of wellbeing in the individual, even if only at a subconscious level, because it reminds us of our infancy and our connection to others. This is why even as adults, music is vitally important to our continuing personal and social development.
Playing musical instruments (as opposed to simply listening to music) is particularly important for human social development because music making is fun and uses different skills to the ones that most people usually employ on a day to day basis. This means that making music is relaxing and can relieve feelings of stress and anxiety. In fact there is now a growing body of research which demonstrates that playing musical instruments is really good for you in terms of both improved physical and mental health7.
Research from 2001 has shown that improved mental and physical health in the individual increases their capacity for social integration8. This is because when an individual feels positive, relaxed and confident they are much more able to integrate with other members of their community. This in turn strengthens the community as a whole because when all the members of a community are fully integrated each individual is able to contribute a diverse and unique set of skills and talents to that community.
It can therefore be seen that the benefits of music in this instance are two fold- it firstly improves the social development of the individual by increasing their feelings of well being and connectedness, but it also has the secondary benefit of increasing that individual’s ability to then integrate within their community which results in a stronger community for all of its members.