Music

The lecture given at the neuroscience banquet on Saturday was very interesting as it was about evolutionary psychology. Though there were many parts of the lecture that were very interesting, I thought the talk about music was the easiest to relate to. Dr. Marcus went over why music evolved and its impact on society today. He also went on to say music is a higher motion of communication.  He started off by saying that music evolved as an advantage for mammals to attract mates. I thought that was so interesting as I can see how true that is. When I listen to a song I look at two things; the beat and the lyrics. It isn’t that both have to be good for me to enjoy it, but one of them should catch my attention in order for me to stay around and keep listening. If it does not appeal to me at the first time, I will never hear the song again. Artists must do a good job at making their music appeal to listeners, as they want the fans. I think this is so strange because it is also the way most people find their partners. There has to some attraction either physical or emotional for a person to stick around and explore that option.

I thought it was very interesting how music also plays a role in social environment. Music has the ability to bring the most different types of people together. I never realized the impact music has as it can also set the mood for everyone. For instance, when I’m having a bad day and I listen to dancing music, my mood completely changes. Music can also come to a person as comfort. Music is an outlet for people and when I sit to analyze, I wonder where our society would be if we didn’t have music to bring us together? Would it be easier/ harder for the society to get along?