Chapter 4. Human Beginnings and Music
Don Ihde · 2022
In this survey I begin with speculative account of the beginnings of early music, song and dance in Ice Age Caves some 40,000+ years BP, drawing from archeology and Chauvet Cave in France. I trace early instrument finds—flutes along with tuning systems derived from modern measurements. With comments about music in the Renaissance and then synthesizers during present times, I consider how music technologies change along with changes in audience, embodiment and listening. This long survey shows that each era has different musics, sounds, embodiments, and audiences. Since today's electronic musics are very different from earlier musics, predictions about future development are difficult to make. However, musics are pervasive with electronically produced music now taking up more and more time for everyday listeners.