Who invented music?

Singing along is fun, but when did it all begin?

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The short answer is no one knows who invented music. No historical evidence exists to say exactly who sang the first song, whistled the first tune, or made the first rhythmic sounds that resembled what people would recognise today as music. However, musicologists (someone who studies the history of music) know that it happened thousands of years ago. Artefacts (objects made by humans) and other evidence can help scientists understand how and why the ancients played music.

The earliest civilisations throughout Africa, Europe and Asia had music. Back then, many humans may have believed it was a divine creation, a gift from the gods. Indeed, gods and goddesses from many religions and mythologies are associated with music. Stories and works of art tell us that the African god Àyàn was a drummer, and the Greek god Apollo played the lyre, an ancient type of string instrument.

Sweet sounds coming down

Some scholars say singing was the first kind of musical sound. Not that people back then were crooning full-length songs. Instead, they made simpler vocal sounds – perhaps just a few notes put together. If that’s true, perhaps early humans began to speak and sing at about the same time.