Five of my last six postings have been related to music. Time to move on to something else.
But I can't leave the topic without observing just how marvellous music itself is.
As humans evolved, we developed five senses. All of our senses help us to interact with our environment and have important functions, such as finding food and avoiding danger. Our sense of hearing, of course, has evolved to play a key role in communication.
But beyond being able to hear someone who is speaking to us, or to hear an oncoming car, hearing allows us to enjoy music.
What a marvellous gift!
I can't imagine, from the perspective of evolution or natural selection, why listening to music gives us so much pleasure. Why do we like notes at certain frequencies? Why do we like certain sequences of notes? Why are some chords pleasant to the ear while others are dissonant. How can sequences of chords provoke an emotional response? Why can a "melody" be defined as "a sequence of single notes that is musically satisfying"? Why have we created so many musical instruments? How can so many different songs be composed with so few notes and chords? How can music move us to clap our hands, or tap our feet, or to get up and dance?
I don't know the answers to these questions and perhaps the answers are not important.
Just as sound is connected to the ear, so music seems to be connected to the soul.
What I do know is that the existence of music is a fabulous mystery and the world would be a much poorer place without it.