Did women (females) invent music?

Virtue

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I had a recent thought. If there was no such thing as music, or instruments. How in the world did music come about from?

I think that, in Prehistory when Humans were young and immature, mothers of infants would most definitely sing or hum in order to entertain their children or pacify them. This would later be turned onto men, when men were more technical and created instruments, to remember melody. The music might have been there to help distinguish one tribe or family from the other. Think of it as a bird tweeting, except they are human beings.
 
I had a recent thought. If there was no such thing as music, or instruments. How in the world did music come about from?

I think that, in Prehistory when Humans were young and immature, mothers of infants would most definitely sing or hum in order to entertain their children or pacify them. This would later be turned onto men, when men were more technical and created instruments, to remember melody. The music might have been there to help distinguish one tribe or family from the other. Think of it as a bird tweeting, except they are human beings.

You could be right, the "mother-child hypothesis" has been accepted as a possibility. The oldest instrument ever discovered was a 40,000 year old flute made out of Cave Bear femur in Slovenia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_music
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divje_Babe_Flute
 
I had a recent thought. If there was no such thing as music, or instruments. How in the world did music come about from?

I think that, in Prehistory when Humans were young and immature, mothers of infants would most definitely sing or hum in order to entertain their children or pacify them. This would later be turned onto men, when men were more technical and created instruments, to remember melody. The music might have been there to help distinguish one tribe or family from the other. Think of it as a bird tweeting, except they are human beings.
I like that. Probably people sang and danced around fire for a million years before instruments were invented. Drum could have been the first one, to keep the rhythm. Think about human voice as musical instrument.

On other hand why are humans only mammals who sing? Did we become highly esthetic creatures like birds of paradise, to whom art of singing, dancing and decorating is at most importance to select good gene pool?


Welcome to Eupedia Virtue
 
I think that the order of musical development most likely went: (1) singing/humming, (2) percussive instruments, (3) wind instruments. I think that the mother/child hypothesis is the strongest for (1), and (3) probably grew out of (1) or at least a combination of (1) and (2). But (2) doesn't strike me as fitting that so well, rather growing out of community activities that most likely included men.
 
Well very nice approach and very nice theme!

As to the ingredients of the music and the history of its development I think the order is as follows:
Rhythm> Melody> Echo (as echo I mean the refined color, intonation and not the primary meaning of sound or noise after / before the "silent "space)


What is also familiar is that the sense of hearing is the first (;) from the sensations developed in embryo, this would be likely to justify any musicality relationship between baby and mother.
This relationship begins with the heart still beats with the mother's speech and ends with the shock of birth and admission to long Echo; / Choe; / Chaos and the struggle for Harmony.


Mother but still has not done its work ,except that lulls and hums her child is the promoter of life and joy taking among other things, to grieve, to edit, and maintain the memory of the dead and the typical burial procedures. I consider that the examples abound in many societies people and many times without many differences.
Thus it is clear from the cheerful children's songs to their lamentations the wailing and moorning women know how to manage and socialize the group's feelings. If I remember well in some health treatments of ancient greece the music was imposed in almost all cases, as the sweet talking also.


It would also be a failure if we do not remember the nine Muses as we speak about Music. and Museums etc.

but
It would also be discriminatory not to mention Orpheus and Pan with his panpipe and Apollo with his lyre.

I say that:
Woman is a musical instrument that acts as median but she dont event the music.
The people who invent music they are not just men or just women as we possibly like to name them.


 
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Funny thing is, I had thought of this, when I was under the influence of a drug. It just suddenly came to me as a thought, and made perfect sense. A woman
humming or singing to their child was the first thing that I could do to explain the birth of music.

I believe that most music came from mothers attempting to calm down their newborns or toddlers, when human beings were younger and more primitive. Men of the first mothers may have later took this intelligent creation of art and used it as a form of tribalism and identifying people of "the family", in order to compete against the other tribes who had the same experience, but different melodies.

The reason why it makes sense that a mother (and other females) invented music would be a very good explanation. Music is often used as a form of unity and therapy, and if it was invented by mothers it would be seen as something unifying or holy. Kind of like a religion.

If music was invented out of nonsense (a contrary theory) like banging on a drum or blowing an animals horn, this would make lesser sense. As human beings often listen to music in order to feel a sort of relation to something, or feel united. (therapeutic)

So I think the mother-to-child theory on the origin of music is pretty legit. Traditionally, women also teach children the natural language and culture while the men are expected to provide for the family/tribe/league, and try to create a sense of stability, prudence, comfort and security.
 
This may explain why Old Norse (European) and Amerindian music, often (coincidentally) sound similar.

With their "epic chanting". (don't know if anyone here has ever heard, or knows what I mean - by this analogy.)
 
This may explain why Old Norse (European) and Amerindian music, often (coincidentally) sound similar.

With their "epic chanting". (don't know if anyone here has ever heard, or knows what I mean - by this analogy.)

That taste like Bjork? - You mean the "drum" in general?
 
@ Virtue
So, it is safe to conlude that something went wrong with their mother;s... (?):LOL:


tumblr_o0jzcoe0Hj1rlezllo1_500.jpg


(healers or sick persons? Both three exceptionals!)








Yes, we communicate and we promote the contact between us whatever the feelings are, positive or negative.


But, for what is the big need to "laugh" or to "cry" and communicate that feelings?
Are only women capable for that invention? -Music to name it?
I am afraid for that conclusion, because if is that so , we probably end to turbullent self-provided; dillemas like, -"Who's first the chicken or the egg"? I mean:
If women invent music through the birth experiance, who set the women pregnant? ...and goes on and on... etc.


I also believe that there is a correlation drugs-music-religion. (-wish not to extent at present)
but mostly,
I think, that there is a major connection between Laugh and Music and have nothing to do-just only- with "joy of life",neither it just invented as you successfully proposed "out of nonsense", it is deeper from the need of contact as I stated above and it is unrelated with the sex were carrying, but let me an example for the subjectivity of our justifications up on to an objective phaenomena/incident : A splash.
The "splash" -the sound I mean-, who is responsible for -The pebble? -The surface of the water? or the hand which throw it in?
I mean "responsible" as major element for the quality of the sound and not for the "will" of the action for the"throw"!


(Ehmm...! Well it was not so successfull as example but you can laugh i suppose :rolleyes:)

At the end of the day, all these are simply rhetorical schemas which profoundly cannot answer your quest, as nobody could answer for example -who invent the joke!
Anyway that is my experiance of women(females)... and if you ask about music?
I prefer Stratocasters from Les Pauls with Ernnie ball strings or Dean Markleys number #008 or #009.
 

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