Music has been around for as long as there have been people. And I mean that almost literally. There are cave paintings of primitive people playing primitive musical instruments. The world’s oldest instrument found to date is over 35,000 years old.
In its earliest form, music was used during ceremonies and on special occasions. Tribal or clan histories were set to music to make them easier for young (and old) minds to remember. Songs and chants were sung over sick people to appease evil spirits, to convince them to leave the body of the victim. Singing was a way of gaining the attention and, hopefully the favor, of the gods, such as before a hunt or a raid on another clan or tribe and, much like today, to attract or communicate with a potential mate or lover. The flute and the drum, the most widely used instruments used by primitive peoples, were often played together. Native Americans still play the ancient music taught to them by their ancestors and passed down through generations.
To this day music is played during special occasions. Weddings, funerals, parades, graduations, birthdays…people have balls and parties where music is played as background noise to create atmosphere, possibly as a conversation starter, and for dancing to. In modern times music is used for advertising, in movies, on television, and of course radio. It’s hard to go one day without hearing some kind of music.
So how did music go from hairy people sitting around a fire singing to the gods to Gene Wilder singing about a world of pure imagination? How did it get to American Idol? How did it become a multi-billion dollar business spanning the globe that everyone pays for and is the nexus of numerous legal battles and new laws?
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