Why Music?

Anthony J. Palmer, Philosophy of Music Education Review, 2002, 10, 1, 43-49.

Excerpt: The question, ‘Why do humans value music?’ is stimulating and of more than philosophical importance. The answer lies at the deepest recesses of human existence and should affect the way music is viewed as a subject for study in the public schools. Yet, the question is not easily answered. I’ve been studying the matter since I started teaching forty years ago and I’m barely at a stage where I have a small inkling. Perhaps that is my shortcoming. Neverthless, I’ll try to give my view now, realizing that it can be no more than some conjectures, a postulation or two, some guessing that is hopefully cogent and intelligent, and perhaps even an insight that may be further realized in the process of writing this answer.