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Composer and Audio Engineer Daniel Cioccoloni on the origins of music

‘Imagine a world without music. Every day we bathe in the music we love, and are subjected to music we dislike. Love it or hate it, even when we are not consciously listening to it, music has a subliminal influence that goes beyond conscious emotions, altering our perception of time, spaces, and our understanding of our inner selves. 

To ask “What do you listen to music for?” seems absurd—I don’t listen to it for anything but itself, and the only answer to the question “Why do you listen to music?” has to be “Why would I not listen to music?”. And yet, why is it that as animals we evolved this need and love for music? Why does it affect us so deeply? Music is so ubiquitous today, that it is easy to think that it simply is. But by looking at the evidence from musicology and the evolutionary sciences, I will attempt to piece together a picture of why the music instinct evolved in our ancestors, how they first started creating music and what it reveals about us and our music today’.

Daniel Cioccoloni.