The first example we have of man making music is in prehistoric cave painting in Ariège, in France. It shows a hunter covered with an animal skin, chasing a reindeer. He has a bow, but he is not using it too shoot at the reindeer. He is holding it to his open mouth and playing it like a Jew's Harp - twanging the string and changing the note by altering the shape of his mouth.
Why is he doing this instead of shooting? The answer to this question tells us one of the most important things about the first music. The hunter is, in fact, trying to cast a spell on the reindeer.
To the first men, music seemed like magic, and magic was the main reason behind any music-making. The simple shouts, claps, chest-beating and foot-stamping of early tribes had the power, so they believed, to bring rain, cure sickness and make crops grow.
It is easy to understand why even the simplest music-making was thought to have magic powers. It was, after-all, something man had created himself, from his own mind. It must have seemed like a gift from the gods, and early man probably thought that it gave him some of the power of the gods to help him tame wild animals.
Material taken from: A Ladybird 'Achievements' Book, Publishers: Wills & Hepworth Ltd, Loughborough, First published 1968. Printed in England.
