Janice Spampani, age 14, of Staten Island, N.Y., for her question:
WHO INVENTED MUSIC?
When sound has a regularity of vibration, it can be classified as musical. Irregular vibrations can be classified as noise.
You have music when you combine and regulate sounds of varying pitch in a sequence that expresses various ideas and emotions.
Music, it is safe to say, was never invented. It just happend. As long as there has been man on earth, there has also been music.
It must have started with the regularity of wind moving through reeds and tall grasses, producing a melody from nature that primitive man immediately acknowledged as music. Added to the concert was the song of the birds and the sound of water spilling over rocks.
Music is found in every part of the world. There is a spontaneous impulse in man to play instruments and to sing and dance. Primitive man, in his earliest days, devised wind instruments made of bone, reed and grass. He also came up with percussion instruments where rhythms were tapped out on shells and an infinite variety of drums. String instruments soon followed: primitive harps with strings made of plant fibers, hair or animal tissue.
Did the impulse toward music start with the feelings of rhythm? Or did it start with the conception of melody? The two are closely intertwined. We can guess, however, that music was the result of the play instinct. A rhythmic accompaniment was needed to accentuate regular bodily movements, since the dance was also indigenous to all races. And so music was born.
Music from the human voice must also have been used almost from the start of time. The voice, responsive to changing feelings and most likely in monotone, probably was used to accompany the first percussion instruments. Use of the voice was most likely a spontaneous happening. From the monotone, embellishments were easy and the way was open for music to grow.
The use of music to help in the treatment of disease is older than civilization itself. Witch doctors and medicine men in primitive tribes used music not only to heal their patients but to lift themselves into states of ecstasy in which they might exert unusual powers over their people. The ancient Egyptians and Persians also used music to heal.
Music is invaluable in bringing about a feeling of unity. There are definite physical, psychological and socializing effects of music. Music can also elevate man emotionally just as it can create rapport and make man more receptive to the communication of ideas. Music has always been an important part of man and will almost certainly continue to be important.