The Human-ness of Music - Humans and Music: A Case Study

Ever wondered why your cat or puppy does not sway or bop to music the way you do?

The evolution of humankind has certainly been a spectacle. From the steady 

change of homo erectus to present day homo sapiens, this species has seen a significant 

change in what they eat, how they live and how they dress. This has mostly been in 

adaptation to the changing environment. Most of the other members of the class 

mammalia have evolved too, albeit slightly different from humans. 

Animals like fleas exhibit unique characteristics like jumping 350 times its body 

length, while hummingbirds are the only birds that fly backwards. Humans exhibit their 

own significant differences of “higher” complexities in the way they move and 

communicate. 

One of the seemingly subtle ways humans have evolved from these other 

members of this class is through their absorption and enjoyment of sounds known as 

“music”. Only a few other animals like birds (parrots, songbirds and hummingbirds) 

have shown a level of appreciation to this auditory phenomenon humans have come to 

make their own which is music.

Several schools of thought, including science have probed into this unusual 

behavior and have come up with various postulates, some of which do seem to hold 

concrete weight. 

Most popular is the theory that this has something to do with sexual 

desires. This ideology stems from Darwin’s theory of sexual selection. This theory is 

defined as “depending on the advantage which certain individuals have over 

other individuals of the same sex and species solely in respect of 

reproduction”. In today’s age, men in trying to court women or other men do display 

signs of wealth, bravado and strength. In this same vein, men back in the day to woo 

their conquests. Darwin states “primeval man probably first used his voice in producing 

true musical cadences as do some of the gibbon-apes at the present day; and we may 

conclude...that this power would have been especially exerted during the courtship of 

the sexes.” There is ethnographic evidence of this claim by anthropologists (Forbes, 

2018).

Alternatively, some scientists do believe that the rhythm of our movements and 

(Larson, 2014). “ Most, if not all, vertebrates are capable of auditory learning, which 

essentially means an ability to make associations with sounds heard, but few are capable 

of vocal learning, the ability to modify acoustic and/or syntactic structure of sounds 

produced, including imitation and improvisation” (Jarvis 2007). This aims to explain 

why humans are one of the few to have musical inclinations.  “However, entrainment 

has recently been demonstrated in the less vocally flexible California sea lion, which has 

been suggested to be a limitation of the vocal learning and rhythmic synchronization 

hypothesis” (Cook et al. 2013). This article illustrates an opposing view. It claims that 

the constant locomotion sounds shaped the growth of synchronization in humans. It can 

also be inferred that animal species that showcase these patterns also produce rhythmic 

and predictable sounds of locomotion. 

In conclusion, further research may reveal more into why humans are seemingly 

the only animals to enjoy music. Aside from the theories that our human ancestors 

picked up music to conquer love interests, and to adapt to the sounds of locomotion, 

there are certainly more theories that would arise.