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Music is, of course, just a sequence of sounds. Sounds are vibrations in the air, which our ears detect. So why do we find certain sequences of sounds to be appealing? What makes us want to hear these sounds (turn on a radio, for example), or make these sounds on our own (sing/play an instrument)?

Heck, why do we even move our body strangely when we hear certain music (dancing)?

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    $\begingroup$ Just a side info on the evolution of music appreciation: The field of evolutionary musicology is a field in the junction between evolutionary psychology and biomusicology. In evolutionary musicology (and in evolutionary psychology) empirical testing is very complicated and therefore, today we can only think and make hypotheses but we can't test them. So always take with a grain of salt what you read in those fields. $\endgroup$
    – Remi.b
    Nov 16, 2015 at 15:23
  • $\begingroup$ I assume our enjoyment of rhythm originates with the sounds we hear all around us (stop and listen some time!). I would also assume that lyrics originated as a useful way to pass on information and continue to be an effective form of communication. Enjoyment of harmonies and melodies must be much more complicated since they seem to be less consistent (perhaps these, too, are related to the sounds heard in varying natural environments?). Most curiously, though, is music's effect on our emotions (e.g., see Salimpoor et al. 2011). $\endgroup$
    – theforestecologist ♦
    Dec 15, 2015 at 0:25

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