The Music Instinct

Is there such a thing?  Instincts, after all, are those behaviors which are unlearned and happen automatically, as a form of survival.  For example, the sucking instinct, to ensure that the infant obtain nourishment from its mother; or the instinct to run almost immediately after birth, to escape hungry lions; or even more primitive, the instinct to start breathing soon after birth.  But is there such a thing as the music instinct?

If we peel away some layers, we see that music consists of tones and rhythm.  Certainly, rhythm might well be part of instinct if we liken it to a primordial reminder of a mother's heartbeat.  Sound, too, might be instinctive.  We don't need to learn to hear; and nature is full of all kinds of sounds - birds communicate by sound, as do other creatures.  Man has used the sound of beating on various objects (tree trunks, stretched skins) to communicate over vast distances.  In fact, sound itself is a vibration that physically strikes the ear drum, and the cochlea is tuned to certain frequencies.  So it is not too far fetched to think that sounds may well reside in our reptilian brains as instincts of some sort.  We may have to sharpen our senses at a hissing sound or a growling sound; we certainly would have to identify the direction and distance of sounds, and take protective measures as necessary.  Primitive man discovered that certain sticks and stones made pleasing sounds that appealed to potential mates, and developed those instruments as an aid to courtship.  These examples may well point to an instinctive well that inspired the creation of music in the evolving human being.

An Extraordinary Woman

In the book, "This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession," the author, Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D. discusses the important influence that music has on the human being. He has analyzed the science behind music, and has come up with some remarkable conclusions, not the least of which is the fact that we "hear" with our entire bodies. Sound, as the physicists among us would confirm, is a physical manifestation, not some amorphous "thing" that passes through our ear drums.

In that vein, a musician by the name of Evelyn Glennie is one of the most remarkable people I have ever encountered. She is a Scottish percussionist, and in this video, she explains how she "hears" with her entire body; how the sounds that emanate from her various instruments are assimilated and manifested within her. She speaks eloquently, distinctly, with a lovely Scottish brogue that belies the fact that she is profoundly deaf.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qra2Dp9KZkI&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL19CE3884E6DD355C