Music: Evolution and Impact on The World Today

What is music? When looking for the definition of music you’ll stumble across a lot of different definitions, everyone has their own definition of what music is to them. A better question to ask probably would’ve been what is the meaning to be found in music? For a lot of people music is joy, to others it’s culture, and to some it could just be sound but what we all can agree on is that music has no boundaries, its universal. Whether it be by animals, when a male and female are making each other mating songs, or it can be when a country is playing their national anthem, whatever the case may be, music has played a part in each and every one of our lives in some type of shape or form. Music in many ways has helped shape mankind and has given us an identity. By looking at music, one can see that there aren’t any boundaries on who it can reach or impact, no race, gender, or species, which is important because that tells you that music plays a prevalent role in all of our lives and expresses who we are. Music has been around since man has been able to communicate. The purpose of this essay is to show you the evolution of music and the impact music has on the world today and just pretty much the overall background on music. 

There are many theories about when and where music actually started, many historians believe that music existed before man existed. They believe it was actually animal that participated in the music, this isn’t surprising because the first instruments came from animals which were flutes and drums. These animals’ bones, skin, and other body parts were used to create these early instruments. 

Huge proof has been found that early man created crude woodwinds from creature bones and utilized stones and wood as percussion. Your voice would have been the first and most common methods for making music in our early days, used to bond socially, tribal ceremonial reasons, or just for comfort to make whatever task you’re doing easier. 

Scholars bring up that there are six total periods and every period has a particular style of music that has contributed altogether to what music is today. Those six periods are The Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th Century music. In the early world practicing music and doing shows while voyaging as an artist brought an abundance of variety and new creations to these new places you traveled creating new styles of music. Music has risen above all through each period and each culture, and has been always showing signs of change and advancing close by with people. It has assumed such an important role throughout the entire existence of mankind, yet little is thought about how people gained melodic talent and why has it advanced as a part of our culture. 

If you were to research any civilization of people it was almost certain that you would find a tradition of making music within their culture. Ancient Egypt even used music in religious ceremonies and a lot of African cultures have been found to have used the drums for important rituals. Archaeological proof recommends that early man was utilizing drums and woodwinds well before the last Ice Age, which was more than 20,000 years back. An ongoing article from BBC showed a lot of woodwinds found by archaeologists that was resolved to be 42,000 to 43,000 years of age. The flutes were formed from a bird’s bones and mammoth ivory. They were verification that music existed some time before there was any written history. 

As indicated by researchers, it was obvious music was a piece of the everyday existence of early people. Music is an art which, in one way or another touches the whole human society and is very powerful. Some would say music is sound that conveys emotion, throughout history we have seen different walks of life come together for a greater cause through music because they shared a common goal or emotion. Just to name a few prolific musicians who music impacted the world are John Lennon, Black Eye Peas, Tupac Shakur, Michael Jackson, and N. W. A are a few names who music changed the world. These artists were able to send out a message that the audience felt very passionately about through their songs, that tells you how powerful music can be and the type of impact it can have on people. We know that music has these four purposes to entertain, for rituals, dancing and communal. Music is an important part of today’s culture and has been throughout history. Music enabled people to keep up bigger interpersonal organizations, which helped them grow the domain and give them an edge over the Neanderthals, who were increasingly conservational and demographically separated. It is from these modest beginnings that the music we appreciate today developed an endeavor at social paste, an approach to unite early people into a united community. Scholars admit that music has assumed a significant job in the lifecycle of people maybe even before we could talk. 

Today we can see how popular music culture has grown in today’s society with everything you do or anywhere you turn there is some type of tune or song playing whether it’s on the radio, television, the theater, the Internet, or even the elevator music is everywhere. Music has been around for so long it would be weird now to dream of a world without music. Imagine going on with life without music, I feel like that would be a dangerous world to live in. We are able to tell stories through music, paint pictures, express ourselves, etc. all through music. Music makes our normal everyday routine normal, like imagine your favorite movie with no music or soundtrack, or watching your favorite show with no intro theme song, that would be weird right? Without music we would be in a very dull world with a bunch of people with no way to express themselves, just a bunch of emotions bottled up. As the world continues to evolve so will our music, we can look back now and see that this is true so we should cherish it. The music we are listening to now our parents weren’t hearing the same tunes when they were our age or anything close to that, music is changing constantly and evolving fast. Who knows music could be the next breakthrough discovery to help cope with a disease or disorder. It is important to know the definition of music because without it we wouldn’t be where we are today, music has helped push civilization much faster. I hope my essay about music was able to teach you the definition of music and the background of what music truly is. 

Works Cited:

1. Baker, S. (2018). The Power of Kindness: Why Compassion Is Essential in Everyday Life. Chronicle Books.
2. Curry, O., Rowland, L., Van Lissa, C. J., Zlotowitz, S., McAlaney, J., & Whitehouse, H. (2018). Happy to help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of performing acts of kindness on the well-being of the actor. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 76, 320-329.
3. Gilbert, D. (2009). Stumbling on happiness. Vintage.
4. Grant, A. M. (2014). Give and take: Why helping others drives our success. Penguin Books.
5. McKeown, G., & Hopkins, N. (2014). Emotion, kindness and compassion: The nature and significance of promoting positive affect in relationship education. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 31(2), 200-215.
6. Nelson, J. (2020). The Science of Kindness: Building a Better World. Beacon Press.
7. Post, S. G. (2018). The Hidden Gifts of Helping: How the Power of Giving, Compassion, and Hope Can Get Us Through Hard Times. Jossey-Bass.
8. Rind, B., & Bordia, P. (1995). Effect of server introduction on restaurant tipping. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25(1), 37-57.
9. Sprenger, S. J. (2008). The power of kindness: Why empathetic kids do better in school and life. Sourcebooks.
10. Wiseman, R. (2012). Rip it up: The radically new approach to changing your life. Harper Collins.