The Musical Human A History of Life on Earth

The world's first-ever recording of music was made in 1878, just after the invention of the phonograph. But we have been making music as long as Homo sapiens has been in existence. The Musical Human travels through time, starting from today's scores - complete with tempo, dynamics, expression, and pitch - to waved lines above text dating back to the ninth century. Through this journey we begin to understand how music is situated at the crux of distinctly human experiences of cognition, feeling, behavior, and even biology, widening the evolutionary gaps between ourselves and animals in surprising ways.From the womb and into old age, we are interacting with music. It is everywhere: in our homes and on our streets. How we have listened, created, and performed this music throughout history has defined and changed what our species is and how we understand who we are. A fascinating interdisciplinary study and sweeping view of science and art through the ages, The Musical Human is a must-read celebration of one of the most ancient treasures of human life.