In this podcast, New Yorker writer Burkhard Bilger talks about the guitars of Ken Parker. A lot of research goes into them. I propose that we enjoy music because enjoyment of music creates demand for musical instruments, which leads to material-science research. My previous earlier posts about human evolution have said something like this — art generates research — several times. Previous examples were visual.
Josh McDermott, a psychologist at MIT, has compared human and animal responses to music. From an in-press paper:
When presented with a choice between slow tempo musical stimuli, including lullabies, and silence, tamarins and marmosets preferred silence whereas humans, when similarly tested, preferred music. . . .There appear to be motivational ties to music that are uniquely human.
My husband and I have thought on the subject of animal non-response (for the most part, visably) to music. We believe it may be the complex patterns of math in music which we subconsciously intuit and respond to emotionally, whereas non-human animals (such as our cats and late dog) may not be able to recognize, appreciate or respond to in the same way we do.
Our cats don’t seem to respond to music recordings, except to startle at unexpected volume or impactive sound; my husband is in the audio business, and we play many types of music in the house. However, interestingly, they respond to sing-song voice when I sing to them; especially a male cat who has a medical condition which can cause seizuring. Singing soft lullabye and hymn songs calms him. If I add cat sounds and his name to the songs, he seems to take notice. I think it is because the song notes sound much like the calling and comfort vocalization tones that mother cats use with their kittens.