Does Music Make Us Human?
Music is one thing we all have in common. Across culture, races, and even time. Humans, in general, all share a fundamental love for music. For generations, music has empowered humans and provided us with a common ground from which to discover ourselves and others. However, does music really make us human?
To answer this question, we first need to decide what it means to be human. Firstly, humans are vastly complicated. In this context, a human is examined from a sociological perspective as opposed to a psychological one. We, as humans, have been impacted drastically by music. It has impacted our culture, trends, and even our very lives. Music has empowered us to have a greater appreciation for all the subtleties, beauties, and sorrows that come with life on this planet. While music might not be the thing that makes us human, per se, through the lens of time, we can say it has impacted us and helped us become the humans we are today.
Beyond what music has done for us as a society and a collective species, there is also what music has done for us in the fields of mathematics and science. Music is used and explored for its benefits and mystery. We use it to help treat people with varying ailments, but at the same time, we are still on a seemingly endless journey to discover the complexities of music, exactly why it is pleasing to us and even more ways why this particular art form can impact and further alter our lives, collectively and individually.
Music is a force that ripples through humanity, stimulating us intellectually and emotionally, in almost equal parts. Music does not make us human, but as we unravel the mysteries of what it means to be human we start to notice an almost overwhelming need to create, and it is within that creation we find the truth. We are humans who create and our creations give back to humanity.